Description

---

 In 1730, noted painter and miniaturist Claude Aubriet created ninety-seven color plates that depicted a wide-range of mushrooms. Because of their high quality, the paintings were used by numerous scientists from the period, including Carl Linnaeus. In this book, Xavier Carteret and Aline Hamonou-Mahieu reproduce Aubriet’s stunning images, describing the rarity of color illustrations of mushrooms before the end of the eighteenth century. They reveal that these drawings reflected the period’s lack of understanding of fungi, when the structure, reproduction, and general existence of mushrooms remained a mystery. A welcome volume for mycologists and for fans of Aubriet, this book underlines the decisive role scientific illustration has played throughout history.

About the Author

---

 Xavier Carteret has a PhD in history and philosophy of sciences from the École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales in Paris.

 Aline Hamonou-Mahieu has a PhD in modern art history and is the author of numerous articles on the history of art and natural sciences.