About the artist
Gessner’s work, 'Tabulae Phytographicae', published posthumously between 1795 and 1804, was unique in focusing predominantly on fruits and flowers, with little regard for other plant parts. Throughout the 1740s, Gessner and Linnaeus would exchange not just ideas, but also plant specimens.
Gessner was working on a beautifully illustrated work, intending to provide detailed comparisons of different plant families. The first two plates of this work, sent to Linnaeus in 1763, left him "thunderstruck". Unfortunately, Gessner’s death meant Linnaeus never saw the finished product. It was not until 1795 that Christoph Salomon Schinz initiated the publication of Gessner’s manuscript, a process that continued until at least 1811. The final plates, interestingly, lacked accompanying text.
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