Louis XIV's Botanical Engravings

Louis XIV enjoyed visiting his fruit and vegetable gardens. Enriched with exotic plants by the numerous botanical expeditions that took place during the 17th century, the king's gardens were a true agronomical laboratory and provided plant specimens for academics, illustrators and engravers. Louis XIV's Botanical Engravings contains a collection of around sixty of the watercolour engravings produced during the reign of Louis XIV. These exquisite illustrations allow us to familiarise ourselves with some of the plants brought back from distant lands, and to understand the contribution they made to scientific research, as well as their beneficial properties.