1 66 



Botanical Illustration 



[ch. 



the intention of the original artist. The wood-cut of the 

 Dodder (Text- fig". 80), for instance, is lamentably inferior 

 to that in the 'Herbarius zu Teutsch' (Text-fig. yy). There 

 is often a tendency, in the later work, to make the figures 

 occupy the space in a more decorative fashion ; for instance, 

 where the stalk in the original drawing is simply cut across 

 obliquely at the base, we find in the ' Ortus Sanitatis ' that 



Text-fig. 80. "Cuscuta" = Dodder [Ortus Sanitatis, 

 Mainz, 1491]. 



its pointed end is continued into a conventional flourish 

 (cf. the figures of the Winter Cherry in the two works, 

 Text-figs. 78 and 79). Among the original figures many, 

 as we have already indicated, represent purely mythical 

 subjects (e.g. Text-figs. 13 and 17). 



The use of a black background, against which the stalks 



