English Cherry - Botanical Poster 50×70 cm

Cerasus sativa multifera - English Cherry

"One of the most beautiful and best species," wrote Poiteau in 1846, not without a touch of astonishment at the rarity of this nonetheless exceptional cherry tree.

The English Cherry indeed combines everything one could expect from an elite fruit: beautiful habit, abundant flowering, remarkable taste quality. Its only flaw? A too brief season. All English cherries disappear at the beginning of July, when common varieties still persist for another month. This early ripening perhaps explains why it never supplanted the Montmorency "which irritate the teeth and tear the throat," in the uncompromising words of the botanist.

This cherry tree is distinguished first by its elegance: medium-sized, with a regular and harmonious habit, it displays straight, sparsely branched, almost vertical branches.

Its inverted oval leaves, dark green on top and pale underneath, measure three to four inches. In spring, it is covered with a profusion of white flowers thirteen lines in diameter, borne on long peduncles.

The resulting fruit is strikingly beautiful: eleven lines high, a luminous crimson red turning reddish-brown at full maturity. Its blood-red flesh delivers a sweet, pleasant water, totally devoid of acidity, a rare quality that makes it a fruit of choice. The cherry ripens at the end of June, borne on a long, elegant stem.

This plate is taken from the Traité des Arbres Fruitiers by Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin, a botanical 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 sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.

• Each poster is printed using 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 finish similar to the original engraving, clear, non-reflective, designed for hanging.
• Printed on FSC certified paper, individually printed to order.
• Shipped in a rigid protective tube.