Victoria Regia

This dramatic portrait of the gigantic South American water lily by Walter Hood Fitch (1817-1892), a master lithographer and botanical artist at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, is from Victoria Regia (1851), by Sir William Jackson Hooker, the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Walter Hood Fitch published more than 10,000 botanical drawings in his lifetime, of which this is one of the most spectacular examples.

Victoria regia (now named Victoria amazonica) was discovered in 1801 and named in honor of Queen Victoria in 1838. The first European flowering occurred at Chatsworth, where the celebrated 19th-century gardener and glasshouse designer Joseph Paxton had constructed a greenhouse especially to house the water lily.

This giclée print on Concorde Rag 310 g/m natural white paper faithfully reproduces the colors of the original. The print is in a limited edition of 300 and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Unframed. 25¾” x 19½”

From the Rare Book Collection of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at The New York Botanical Garden.