Dog Rose

Le Moyne de Morgues, Jacques, 1533?-1588 · [ca. 1580]

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, a French artist living in Elizabethan England, specialized in naturalistic florilegia. While living in Blackfriars, London during the 16th century, Le Moyne painted dozens of plants and animals native to English gardens; however, his work remained largely undiscovered until the 20th century. These meticulous recreations of Le Moyne's watercolor and gouache pieces highlight the balance between science and art during the sixteenth century. This recreation of Jacques Le Moyne's "Dog Rose" reveals a sixteenth-century scientific fascination with plants and insects. Painted in watercolor and gouache, the varied views of the rose stand out against their pale vellum background. Unlike several of Le Moyne's other works, "Dog Rose" was not painted entirely from life, as evidenced by its perfectly shaped leaves and cartoonish caterpillar. Le Moyne's splayed composition serves both scientific and artistic purpose, though the painted frame creates tension on the left side of the piece, where a cluster of leaves rests too close to the edge. "Dog Rose" is presumably part of a series painted c. 1580 for a wealthy English patron, and the piece shares immense similarities to Le Moyne's alternate edition, "Dog Rose & Caterpillar", owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum.