Ehret's most graceful composition of this flowering vine is the perfect example of his extraordinary ability to convey with delicacy the beauty of his subjects while providing complete scientific information about them. The brilliant reds and yellows of the flower appear to float in a three-dimensional space in front of the subtly colored blue-green foliage.

About Georg Dionysius Ehret

Ehret's watercolors are beautiful, precise and the first to use the now standard botanical nomenclature of the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. Ehret was a close friend of Linnaeus whose Species Plantarum (1753) represents the first codified, universal classification system for plants.

Continuous global exploration provided a continuous supply of new species to be classified and to be cultivated in ever-expanding royal gardens. As a boy, Ehret worked in the gardens of the Elector of Heidelberg when the Margrave of Baden gave him the opportunity to paint flowers in his own garden.

Eventually, Ehret made his way to London where the Duchess of Portland and Sir Hans Sloane became his patrons. Renowned as both an artist and a botanist, Ehret was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1757.