Anemone (Anemone), Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt, 1596 - 1610
The exceptional condition of the individual drawings in the Historia Naturalis albums can be attributed to the fact they were sold only three times over a span of four centuries. The colours, such as the deep red and soft greens in this sheet, remain as pristine as the day they were applied. This anemone may be one of the many botanical drawings in the albums made by the Delft flower painter Elias Verhulst, from whom De Boodt commissioned around 200 drawings.