Giorgio Gallesio (1772-1839) "Pomona Italiana, Ossia Trattato Degli Alberi Fruttiferi" (A Treatise On Fruit Trees)
Original Antique Hand-Colored Aquatint Engraving
From Folio Incl. Text Describing Fruit

Framed: 13.5” X 19.5”
Plate: 18.75” x 12.75”

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, handling, and wear. There may be a few minor marks or imperfections to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and message with any questions. Exceptional condition for age.

This print is depicting "Pesca Moscatella [Peach]"

Published by Niccolò Capurro, Pisa, Italy: 1817-1839

Description: Giorgio Gallesio (Italian, 1772-1839) was botanist, lawyer, and civil servant. He created the finest Italian work on fruits, remarkable for the delicate and intense coloring. Gallesio was supported by Domenico del Pino, Antonio Serantoni and Isabella Bozzolini were among as many as 20 artists responsible for the designs. An almost equal number of engravers were involved; Giuseppe Pera, Giuseppe Carocci, Tommaso Nasi and Francesco Corsi were also well-represented.
Gallesio conducted experiments in his fruit garden in Savona and was later quoted by Charles Darwin to illustrate the development of varieties.

Although he died before completion of this work, he had left pre-eminent contributions to the study of Italian fruit.

“THE FINEST ITALIAN WORK ON FRUIT. It is extremely rare "

"Before Gallesio began this enormous work, published in fourty-one parts from 1817 to 1839, he had already published his Traité du Citrus. Gallesio's Pomona was a major contribution to the study of pomology in Italy"

The work is noted for its exceptional color. It was printed as an aquatint engraving, finished by hand, and heightened with gum arabic. Many artists contributed to the work including Domenico del Pino, Antonio Serantoni and Isabella Bozzolini. It also utilized the work of engravers including Giuseppe Pera, Giuseppe Carocci, Tommaso Nasi and Francesco Corsi. The images were highly detailed and took great care to be true to the subject including blemishes to the fruits, holes in leaves, and meticulous detailing.
Gallesio was botanist, lawyer, and civil servant.Charles Darwin noted that the experiments he conducted in his orchards in Savona illustrated his own theory of natural selection in the development of fruit varieties.

Colorful print of fruit from a monumental 19th-century treatise on Italian fruit trees. The main illustration depicts a branch with the fruit and leaves. (Some prints of fruit also have additional illustrations of split fruit to show the seeds or pits, and of twigs with flowers.) All executed in a consistent style of modeled volumetric forms, with the tiniest details of the textures of the leaves and fruit meticulously rendered, down to tiny serrated edges of leaves or the pith of a twig. The faithfulness to reality includes subtle blemishes on the skin of some of the fruits or tiny holes in the leaves from insects. The lush fruit is artistically composed and arranged on the sheet, yet the inclusion of such imperfections distinguish these plates from more idealized depictions in other botanical plates of the period.

Giorgio Gallesio made a major contribution to the field of botany with his illustrated Pomona Italiana, a treatise on fruit trees grown in Italy, which included 160 plates published in 41 parts between 1817 and 1839, the year Gallesio died. The fruits included figs, pears, grapes, peaches, apples, cherries, apricots and some more exotic fruits. Oranges and lemons were omitted because Gallesio had already published Traité du Citrus, a treatise on citrus fruits.