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Press Kit:

La Rose Impériale

Feb. 9 - 2008 - April 28, 2008

Boone Gallery

When the wife of France’s Napoléon Bonaparte died in 1814, she left behind a floral legacy that lives on in gardens around the world: A passion for roses that greatly influenced the way we know the flower today. The role played by Empress Joséphine in the development of modern roses is at the heart of a new exhibition opening Feb. 9 and continuing through April 28, 2008, at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

“La Rose Impériale: The Development of Modern Roses” will showcase 110 rare illustrated herbals and rose books, including a first edition of Pierre-Joseph Redouté’s glorious multivolume work, Les Roses (1817-24).

The exhibition is the anchor of a yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Rose Garden at The Huntington, which was established by the institution’s founders Henry and Arabella Huntington in 1908. A lecture series and other related programs are planned. Clair G. Martin III, the Ruth B. and E. L. Shannon Curator of the Rose Garden, is the exhibition curator. more about the exhibition...

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Joséphine	19th-century engraving of Empress Joséphine. Huntington Library.
indica cruenta	Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Les Roses, 1817-24. Rosa indica cruenta. Huntington Library.
bifera officinalis	Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Les Roses, 1817-24. Rosa bifera officinalis. Huntington Library.
wreath	Mary Lawrance, A Collection of Roses from Nature, 1799. Frontispiece. Huntington Library
Slater’s Crimson	Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1774. ‘Slater’s Crimson China.’ Huntington Library.
Redouté	Pierre-Joseph Redouté, (1759-1840). Huntington Library.
noisettiana	Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Les Roses, 1817-24. Rosa noisettiana. Huntington Library.
indica blush China	Mary Lawrance, A Collection of Roses from Nature, 1799. Rosa indica (Blush China). Huntington Library.