Johann Nepomuk Mayrhoffer (1764–1832) Two Botanical Plates

Johann Nepomuk MAYRHOFFER
(Obernenkirchen, 1764– Munich,1832)
Two botanical plates
Yellow water lily (Nymphaea lutea) and
Purple loosestrife (Lytrhum Salicaria)
Watercolor over pen and ink
H. 50cm ; W. 34cm each
Titled in pencil at the bottom center, and numbered 20 and 52

Mayrhoffer is a fairly well-known Austrian artist who specialized exclusively in botany.
He received his first lessons in Linz from Johannes Haslinger, before going on to further his studies at the Academy in Munich.
In addition to producing paintings of flowers and fruits—which were highly sought after by art lovers of the time — he is particularly known for his collaboration with the botanist Franz von Paula Schrank on the work Flora Monacensis, a major work published between 1811 and 1818, consisting of four richly illustrated volumes.

Mayrhoffer produced approximately 400 lithographs for the work, depicting local plants with remarkable scientific precision ; each was accompanied by a page precisely describing all the characteristics of the plant. The work was printed in Munich, in Hermann Mitterer’s lithographic workshop, on the press of Alois Senefelder, the pioneer of this technique.

The original drawings we present are reversed compared to the lithographed plates.