Exegesis Florilegium
This group of collages were made from black and white reproductions of plant depictions in Emanuel Sweerts 1612 Florilegium.
From the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, naturalists and artists joined expeditions to document unfamiliar plants and animals. Because specimens deteriorated quickly, artists often sketched them in the field and used notes to complete illustrations later. This process sometimes introduced inaccuracies, especially when based on memory, dried specimens, or second-hand descriptions. As a result, some botanical illustrations include errors, embellishments, hybridizations, or speculative details, occasionally depicting plants that never existed in the form shown.
