Georg Ehret

Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770) was a German botanist and entomologist but he is remembers and honored for his beautiful botanical illustrations and contributions to the classification of all plant and animal life. Before becoming a professional artist, Ehret worked with his father as a gardener. His first patron was Christoph Trew. As more adventurers were returning to Europe with plant specimens, botanists like Trew were adding them to their own collections and studying them. And, they hired artists like Ehret to help document their favorites.

Ehret lived during interesting times. People were growing curious about far away places and scientific expeditions were bringing exotic plants and animals back to Europe. Scientists were amassing a body of knowledge about plants and animals that have never been seen outside of their native habitats. Already well on his way to being a pre-eminate artist among the many who were capturing these new discoveries on paper and canvas, Ehret’s place in history was ensured when he would work with the botanist Carl Linnaeus. (If the name Carl Linnaeus is unfamiliar, he is the person who developed the classification for all living things. When you see a scientific name followed by Linn, that indicates the name is the one Linnaeus gave the plant or organism.)

Ehret would illustrate many of the important botanical literature of the time. His background in gardening and botany, along with his obvious artistic gifts, perhaps positioned him perfectly to become one of the world’s most important botanical artists.

The genus of flowering plants in the borage family known as Ehretia is named for the illustrator.