Joseph Prestele Sold at Auction Prices

Prestele - The Beurre Giffard Pear

This hand-colored fruit lithograph is from Joseph Prestele. It was published in Buffalo circa 1850. It is a fine print by one of the most prolific and esteemed nineteenth-century professional botanical illustrators in America. Born in Bavaria, Joseph Prestele immigrated to the United States in 1843 with a Lutheran religious group called the Community of True Inspiration, which established a settlement near Buffalo in Ebenezar, New York. He completed many illustrations of flowers and fruit for the Smithsonian Institution and U.S. government and was frequently assisted by his sons Gottlieb and Henry. A number of his works appeared in contemporary horticulture periodicals, and his colour lithographs were also used as advertisements for various commercial nurseries in his community. In addition to his countless original illustrations, Prestele engraved the drawings of Isaac Sprague for several prominent botanists including John Torrey.