172 Botanical Illustration [ch. 



The title ' Herbarum vivse eicones ' — ' Living Pictures of 

 Plants ' — indicates the most distinctive feature of the book, 

 namely that the artist went direct to nature, instead of 

 regarding the plant world through the eyes of previous 

 draughtsmen. This characteristic is best appreciated on 

 comparing Brunfels' figures with those of his predecessors. 

 His picture of the Waterlily (Text-fig. 66), for example, 

 contrasts notably with that of the same subject from the 

 Venetian 'Herbarius' (Text-fig. 65). In the former the 

 artist has caught the exact look of the leaves and stalks, 

 buoyed up by the water. Throughout the work, the draw- 

 ing seems to be of a slightly higher quality than the actual 

 engraving; the lines are, to use the technical term, occasion- 

 ally somewhat " rotten " or even broken. 



In one respect the welcome reaction from the con- 

 ventional and generalised early drawings went almost too 

 far. Many of Brunfels' wood-cuts were done from imperfect 

 specimens, in which, for example, the leaves had withered 

 or had been damaged by insects. This is clearly shown in 

 Text-fig. 84. The artist's ambition was evidently limited 

 to representing the specimen he had before him, whether 

 it was typical or not. The notion had not then been 

 grasped that the ideal botanical drawing avoids the pecu- 

 liarities of any individual specimen, and seeks to portray the 

 characters really typical of the species. These characters 

 can sometimes only be arrived at by a comparison of 

 numerous specimens. 



From the figures here reproduced a good idea of the 

 style of Weiditz can be obtained. His line is usually firm 

 and broad, and but little shading is employed. The chief 

 merit of the drawings lies in their crisp and virile outlines. 



Regarded from the point of view of decorative book 

 illustration, the beautiful drawings of the period under 

 consideration sometimes failed to reach the standard set 

 by earlier work. The very strong, black, velvety line of 

 many of the fifteenth-century wood-engravings, and the 

 occasional use of solid black backgrounds (cf Text-fig. 81) 

 give a great sense of richness, especially in combination 

 with the black letter type, with which they harmonise so 

 admirably. A page bearing such illustrations is often more 

 satisfying to the eye than one in which the desire to express 



