Limon di Salerno monstroso. Veduta alla …

Striking engraving of lemons from the most fabulous c.18th Baroque series, all set with a birds-eye view of a villa and garden, from Johann Christopher Volckamer’s, Nuernbergische Hesperides.

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides were nymphs who tended a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world. They were said to be the daughters of Hesperus. Volckamer was the son of a physician and a wealthy merchant with interest in exotic citrus.

Starting from late c.17th, there developed a collecting passion for instance among the aristocracy, who tried to outdo one another with the rarest and most bizarre citrus fruits, imported at great expense from south of the Alps and developing into a symbol of social status and power. With this work the term “Hesperides” became the symbol for the flowering Nuremberg garden culture, which lasted from 1650 up to the late 18th Century.

References:
Dunthorne, G. Flower and Fruit Prints of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries: Their History, Makers and Uses, with a Catalogue Raisonne.. Washington 1938 : 323.
Sitwell, S. Great Flower Books 1700-1900. New York 1990 : 79.
Nissen, C. Die Botanische Buchillustration. Stuttgart 1966 BBI 2076.
Plesch, A. The Magnificent Botanical Library of the Stiftung Fur Botanik Vaduz Liechtenstein.. London 1975 : 798.

Collections:
State Library Victoria: RARESF 634.3 V88