IQO Botanical Illustration [ch. 



in the work of Mattioli, the eye most frequently finds its 

 satisfaction in the rich massing of foliage, fruit and flowers, 

 suggestive of southern luxuriance. Many of his figures 

 would require little modification to form the basis of a 

 tapestry pattern. 



Another remarkable group of wood-engravings consists 

 of those published by Plantin in connection with the work 

 of the three Low Country herbalists, Dodoens, de I'Ecluse 

 and de I'Obel. In the original edition of Dodoens' herbal 

 (' Cruydeboeck,' published by Vanderloe in 1554), more 

 than half the illustrations were taken from Fuchs' octavo 

 edition of 1545. But eventually, as we have pointed out 

 in Chapter IV, Vanderloe parted with Fuchs' blocks. 

 After this, Plantin took over the publication of Dodoens' 

 books, and in his final collected works ('Stirpium historiae 

 pemptades sex,' 1583) the majority of the illustrations were 

 original, and were carried out under the author's eye (Text- 

 figs. ^'], 38, 96, 97). A few (namely those marked in the 

 Pemptades, "Ex Codice Caesareo") are copied from Juliana 

 Anicia's manuscript of Dioscorides to which we have more 

 than once referred. Some are also borrowed from the 

 works of de I'Ecluse and de I'Obel, since Plantin was 

 publisher to all three botanists, and the wood-blocks 

 engraved for them were regarded as, to some extent, 

 forming a common stock. In fact it is often difficult to 

 decide to which author any given figure originally belonged. 

 This difficulty is enhanced by the fact that some were 

 actually made for one and then used for another, before 

 the work for which they had been originally destined was 

 published. 



There is little to be said about de I'Obel's figures, 

 which partook of the character of the rest of the wood-cuts 

 for which Plantin made himself responsible. The Yellow 

 Waterlily (Text-fig. 67) is given here as an example. 



The wood-cuts illustrating the comparatively small 

 books of de I'Ecluse are perhaps the most interesting of 

 the figures associated with this trio of botanists. The 

 Dragon Tree (Text-fig. 98), "Sedum majus" (Text-fig. 59) 

 and Job's Tears (Text-fig. 39) are examples from his book 

 on the plants of Spain, which appeared in 1576. 



The popularity of the large collection of blocks got 



