Hazel - Botanical Print 50x70cm

Corylus avellana - Common Hazel

A humble inhabitant of Europe's woods and hedges, the Common Hazel embodies everyday botany, the kind shepherds and children knew intimately.

Pierre-Antoine Poiteau affectionately recounts this familiarity: in 19th-century England, entire families lived by gathering wild hazelnuts in autumn, which they sold in London markets. A popular way of life now vanished, captured in this plate with the same rigor as the most aristocratic species.

Extremely common around Paris, the Hazel becomes a "medium-sized tree" in the fresh, light soils of Meudon Wood or Saint-Cloud Park, sometimes reaching 3 decimeters in diameter.

Its brown and shiny bark, its slightly hairy tawny young buds, its heart-shaped rounded leaves, finely toothed and deeply veined, compose a botanical ensemble of great elegance.

As early as February, well before the leaves, appear the sulfur-yellow male catkins, 8 centimeters long, while the female buds are recognizable by their small red tuft.

The hazelnuts, oval or oblong, ripen in August in a deeply cut involucre. Poiteau insists: fresh, they only yield to cultivated filberts by their modest size, but their flavor deserves much more than indifference.

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-colour giclée printing, the reference for art workshops for rendering fine tones, subtle gradations, and the most delicate botanical details.
• 200 g/m² paper weight, soft matte finish, 0.26 mm thickness: a rendering close to the original engraving, sharp, without reflections, designed for display.
• Printed on FSC certified paper, printed individually to order.
• Shipped in a rigid protective tube.