Lemon – Limon Cucrbitato

This magnificent and rare engraving is from Johann Volckamer’s Nuremberg Hesperides. This is from the first German edition published in Nuremberg for the author between 1708 and 1714. It was one of the most spectacular and celebrated works on fruit.

Most of the engravings from the work feature a citrus fruit and blossoms floating in the sky above a stunning landscape as well as mythological, garden, and architectural plates. Nuremberg Hesperides was extremely rare and features illustrations from Decker, Glotsch, Kenckel, Krieger, Montalerge Pfan, and Steinberger.

The work was based upon Giovanni Battista Ferrari’s Hesperides. Volckamer enhanced the original scientific work of Ferrari by adding detaile landscapes and backgrounds depicting formal gardens and villas giving the plates an aesthetic appeal.