Magnificent illustration of an ear of corn with leaves, printed in colour and delicately finished by hand. Maize is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico and has become a staple food in many parts of the world. The present print comes from a series of flower prints by Gerard van Spaendonck, the only engraved work published during his lifetime, entitled Fleurs dessinées d'après nature, which contains "twenty-four magnificent drawings, brilliantly interpreted in stipple by P.F. Le Grand and other engravers. These are probably the finest engravings of flowers ever made" (Blunt) and "they are among the most breath-taking series of plates in the [Hunt] library" (Hunt). The series was originally published in 6 parts, each with 4 plates and available printed in black, printed in colour, or (as in the present case) printed in colour and finished by hand.
Gerard van Spaendonck (1746-1822) was a proponent of the Dutch school of floral painting. He singlehandedly transformed the genre of flower painting in France, where he managed to unite the realism of the Dutch school with the suave elegance of the French school. In 1780 he became Professeur de Peinture de Fleurs at the Jardin des Plantes. Among his many pupils was Pierre Joseph Redouté.
Minor restoration to the foot margin and some other minor blemishes also in the margins, all along the edges and covered by the passepartout. The illustration itself is in very good condition. Van Boven & Segal, Gerard & Cornelis van Spaendonck, pp. 178-184, no. 12; for the series: Blunt, pp. 175-176; Dunthorne 1938; Hunt 673 note; Nissen, BBI 1879.