The Royal Academy of Sciences, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV, on the advice of the Prime Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, initiated learned works that the "ordinary engravers of the King" were to illustrate. Claude Perrault (physician and architect, brother of the storyteller) entrusted Denis Dodart (1634-1717) and his collaborators with the project of a History of Plants, which was to assemble scientific descriptions and faithful illustrations of the plants studied. Nicolas Robert, Abraham Bosse and Louis de Chastillon engraved 319 plates between 1668 and 1699. The technique used was
More details