GEEST, JULIUS FRANCOIS DE (Dutch, 1639-circa 1699)

JARDIN DE RARES ET CURIEUX FLEURS FAICTES PR. FRANCOIS DE GEEST DE LEOVARDE EN FRISE

[Holland], circa 1660

Manuscript comprises title-page; pencil and ink wash drawing of an Italian garden corner by Adam Pynacker (Dutch, 1622-1673); 101 bodycolors on vellum (some with pencil), all tipped-in, each with protective paper leaf and each measuring about 11 ½ x 7 ½ inches. The drawings contain several flowers and they are identified in manuscript. Bound in 18th century Dutch marbled calf with gilt panels and large center ornaments incorporating the letters GH; a.e.g.; spine richly gilt in seven compartments and lettered: ‘Bloem Boeck Door P. F. Geest.’ Spine height: 12 inches. Watermark: MCMD and coat of arms with hanging horn and GVH. One of the drawings in this manuscript was reproduced in color in The Illustrated London News, September 25, 1948. Provenance: Collection of Sir Bruce Ingram, England.

De Geest was the nephew of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), and he studied with Erasmus Quellinus II. He may have been commissioned to paint these bodycolors by Count Willem Frederik of Nassau, stadhouder of the Province of Friesland. Count Willem Frederik of Nassau had constructed a magnificent garden on one of Leeuwarden’s ramparts.

This collection is remarkable for two reasons. First, the quality of the drawings and the delicacy of the coloring established de Geest as a botanical artist of the first rank at a time when Dutch flower painting was at its zenith. Secondly, the number and variety of the flowers depicted is quite exceptional. 235 species are illustrated, usually two or three to the page, many of which were very recently imported into Europe at this time.

The drawings are inscribed: