Sophronitis grandiflorum, Stunning orchid lithograph. Joseph Paxton c1842.

$220.00

Paxton orchid antique print, named Sophronia meaning 'modest'… hardly!  Strikingly dramatic illustration, drawn and lithographed by Samuel Holden for Joseph Paxton's Magazine of Botany & Register of Flowering Plants, published in London c1842.

Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) was a hugely talented man. Starting as a gardener at 15 years of age, with little education, his enthusiasm, ability and application were rewarded by his promotion at the age of 23 to the position of Head Gardener on the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth Estate – one of England’s finest gardens. Although today better known as a landscape gardener, Paxton’s diverse talents gained him a reputation also as an architect and engineer, particularly for his design of glasshouses. His design for the glass house conservatory at Chatsworth served as a model for Paxton’s design of the Crystal Palace for London's Great International Exhibition of 1851 (for which he received his knighthood). Apparently Paxton sketched his idea on blotting paper, and within 9 days had finalized his intricate design for the enormous innovative structure of wrought iron and glass.

Size: 230 x 155mm (9 x 6 inches).