Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau
Size: 10 x 13 inches - Original Hand Colored Copperplate Egravings
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Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Bigarreau Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu001

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Morello Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu002

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Chery-Duke Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu003

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Heart Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu004

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Wild Cherry, Sweet Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu005

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Wild Cheery, Sweet Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu006

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Wild Cheery, Sweet Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu007

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Toussaint Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu008

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Early Cherry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu009

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Red Currant
Price: $595
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu010

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Green Strawberry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu011

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Common Strawberry
Price: $695
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu012

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Large Early Apricot
Price: $595
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu013

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Common Apricot
Price: $595
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu014

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Apricot of Portugal
Price: $595
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu015

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Apricot of Nancy
Price: $595
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu016

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Apricot of Holland
Price: $595
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu017

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Currant
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu018

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Fenouillet Apple
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu019

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Reinette Apple
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu020

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Calville Apple
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu021

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Common Medlar
Price: $225
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu022

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Peach Almond
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu023

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Almod Tree
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu024

Traité des Arbres Fruitiers
Almond Tree
Price: $425
Date: 1768
Print Code: Frudu025

These beautiful hand colored copperplate engravings have been selected from a French work entitled "Traité des Arbres Fruitiers", published in Paris in 1768 under the supervision of Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau.

Around 1750, Henry-Louis Duhamel du Monceau showed the manuscript and illustrations for Traité des Arbres Fruitiers to René Le Berryais (1722-1807). The work consisted of research and writing started after the publication of Anatomie de la Poire in 1730 and 1731. Accompanying the text was the artwork of Claude Aubriet (c. 1665-1742) and Magdeleine Basseporte (1701-1780), both of whom Duhamel hired to illustrate the 16 different fruit species and multiple cultivars.

Without financial backing, this work would not have progressed beyond the preliminary stage. René Le Berryais encouraged Duhamel to publish Traité des Arbres Fruitiers and went so far as to help the artists complete some of the original drawings before they were duplicated by the engravers.

Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782) was one of the most important French writers on fruit, plant physiology and agriculture, in this field he was one of the outstanding botanists of the eighteenth century (Raphael) and Traité des Arbres Fruitiers is among the finest of fruit books. The first volume begins by describing and illustrating different methods of pruning and grafting.
This brief but concise description of techniques encouraged propagation of fruit trees throughout France. His intention was to promote the virtue and nutritional value of fruit-bearing trees. Sixteen different genera of fruit and a number of their different species are described in the work – almonds, apricots, a barberry, cherries, quinces, figs, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, medlars, a mulberry, pears, peaches, plums, grapes and a raspberry. Each plate illustrated the plant’s seed, foliage, blossom, fruit, and sometimes cross sections of the specimen. As pears were Duhamel’s favorite fruit, they constitute the largest percentage of the two volumes.

Jacques de Sève executed the original drawing for the frontispiece, which depicts a man on a ladder picking Duhamel’s favorite fruit, the pear, while a dog watches and a woman, reminiscent of the Greek goddess Pomona, empties an apron full of pears into a basket. Behind the woman, Pomona Gallica is carved into the stone water fountain. Sève’s drawing was transferred into an etched and engraved plate by Nicolas de Launay (1729-1792).

The engravers for the published work include Catherine and Elisabeth Haussard, L.A. Herisset, B.L. Hernriquez, Bréant, Fme. Tardieu, Ch. Milsan, Mesnil, Baron, P. L. Cor, Mênil, J. F. Poletnich, Benoist, and Fme. Dupuis.