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Rare prints and maps...Since 1918! Click here to go to Darvill's home page.

Since Adirondack Retro acquired Darvill's Rare Prints in August of 2022, we have been working tirelessly on our New State-Of-The Art Website. We are excited to announce that it is now up and running and that our massive inventory of Antique Prints and Rare Maps are being transferred over to the new site daily. In addition to the nearly 500,000 prints found on www.DarvillsRarePrints.com, Adirondack Retro offers an eclectic selection of Antique and Vintage Advertisements along with their Limited Edition Giclee Prints. During this transition, customers will still be able to shop and make purchases on www.DarvillsRarePrints.com.

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Gorgeous re-strike stipple engravings from the original engraved plates of

Pierre-Antoine Poiteau

The age of magnificent pomological art began with 16th-century Flemish still life painting and spanned more than two hundred years. It reached its pinnalce in 19th century France with the collaboration of two great botanical artists—Pierre-Antoine Poiteau (1766-1854) and Pierre François Turpin (1775-1840).

Poiteau was born in Ambleny, close to Soissons. The son of very modest parents, he was not able to afford schooling, but he practiced gardening at a young age. At only 20 years old, he became head gardener in a convent near his home. Soon dissatisfied, he preferred to try his chances in Paris. Initially, he offered his services to Parisian market-gardeners and florists. Soon thereafter, he applied to the Botanical Garden in 1789 where he was admitted as a gardener.

Though self-taught as a botanist and artist, he made enough of an impression to be sent to set up a botanic garden at Bergerac. He was next sent as a plant collector to Santo Domingo, where he met and became friends with Pierre Jean Francois Turppin, who was stationed there with the French army. Their friendship developed into an artistic collaboration which provided illustrations for some of the most elaborate botanical publications of the period.

Poiteau's work represents a culmination of the efforts of those who preceded him. From the 17th century onward, scientific interest in botany and pomology grew. The advent of formal European flower gardens in 18th century France laid the foundation for what was to come. Sponsored by French nobility and royalty, particularly the Empress Josephine, these flower gardens provided the inspiration and patronage that allowed Pierre Joseph Rédouté to perfect the technique of stipple engraving. This milestone in color printing provided artists with a technique that equaled in subtelty the original watercolor painting's richness, delicacy and beauty.

Poiteau, working with Rédouté's printer, Langlois, achieved a superby realistic and tactile quality with his remarkable fruit pictures. Poiteau also contributed a scientific accuracy to this work never before achieved or since equaled. In 1846 he published a final version, without Turpin, of what is considered to be the finest example of pomological art ever created: Pomologie Français. It is among the last great folios of fine stipple engravings form this era.

In the 1930s and 1940s Sydney Z. Lucas, a New York gallery owner, worked with a group in Paris called the "Paris Etching Society."
Lucas worked with French artists to produce beautiful color etchings of both contemporary and older works.
The pieces below were produced in the 30s-40s using the original printing plates of Poiteau.

Sheet Size: approx. 15 x 21 inches


Please click on a thumbnail for an enlarged view.
Images have been digitally watermarked to deter theft. Watermark does not appear on actual print.

Petite Mignonne

Petite Mignonne

$295.95

Prune de Saint-Martin

Prune de Saint-Martin

$295.95

Reine-Claude violette

Reine-Claude violette

$295.95

Reine-Claude violette

Reine-Claude violette
[same as to left, but colors are more subtle]



$295.95

The print below is a stunning hand-colored restrike stipple engraving, using Poiteau's original plates and employing expert colorists in England.

Sheet Size: approx. 16¼ x 21¾ inches

Royale ordinaire

Royale ordinaire


$349.95

Thousands of original Botanical prints here