Common Apricot - Botanical Fine Art Print 50x70 cm

Armeniaca communis - Common Apricot

The common apricot tree is the largest of the apricot trees, but not the most fertile, contrary to what Duhamel claimed.

Pierre-Antoine Poiteau, a keen observer, noted in 1846 that this tree bears less fruit than its cousins and remains vulnerable to late spring frosts, which are true arbiters of the abundance or scarcity of harvests.

Its fruits, picked in mid-July, turn yellow upon ripening without ever reddening under the Parisian sun, revealing a flesh often bland when exposed to the open air, but more fragrant when the tree is espaliered.

The common apricot tree is distinguished by its large, flat, beautiful green leaves, often heart-shaped and wider than they are long. Their rounded teeth are finer than those of the peach-apricot, and the short, often red petiole bears a variable number of glands.

Fruit-bearing branches can have up to five flower buds around a wood bud. The medium-sized flowers open in a well-rounded saucer shape.

The fruit, almost as large as the peach-apricot but less flattened, reaches 54 millimeters in height and 58 in diameter. Its skin yellows without turning red, sometimes slightly scabby – a paradoxical sign of quality.

Exposure and humidity significantly influence its taste: when espaliered, it becomes larger and yellower, but loses flavor.

This plate is taken from Poiteau and Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers, a fruit encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference in 19th-century naturalistic illustration.
It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensitivity, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.

• Each poster is printed with 12-color Giclée printing, the benchmark for art workshops for rendering fine tones, subtle gradients and the most delicate botanical details.
• 200 gsm paper, soft matte finish, 0.26 mm thickness: a rendering close to the original engraving, sharp, glare-free, designed for hanging.
• Printed on FSC certified paper, printed individually to order.
• Shipped in a rigid protective tube.