If you have ever wanted a single flower to carry a whole frame, Redoute is where you start. He painted one bloom at a time, at full attention, and that is exactly the kind of subject that rewards a counted chart.
Pierre-Joseph Redoute was born in 1759 in the Austrian Netherlands and died in 1840. He worked in watercolor, much of it roses and lilies painted at the Château de Malmaison, and those paintings went out into the world as large colored stipple engravings. People called him the Raphael of flowers, and he has been called the greatest botanical illustrator who ever lived. That reputation was built on flowers alone, which is unusual and, to me, part of what makes him such good company at the fabric.
These are demanding charts. Nothing here sits below Level 3, and the shading inside a petal is where the work lives. Provence Rose and Striped Tulip are the friendliest way in, both Level 3, both with clean shapes to build on. Grapefruit Citrus gives you something other than a rose, with leaves and fruit to keep the count interesting. French Rose steps up to Level 4, where most of the rest of the collection sits. Then there is Red Mums at Level 5, Big League, and I will be honest with you about that one: it is a long project with a lot of close color changes, and it is stunning when it is framed. All of them are charted for 18-count Aida and meant to be finished as wall art. If you have never tried floral counted cross stitch at this level, work up from a Level 3 first.
Who else to try. These painters are not connected to Redoute by history, they simply sit on the same shelf in my collections: Jan van Huysum, Joseph Farquharson, Jacques Clement Wagrez and Henri Fantin-Latour.
And if it is the painting itself you love rather than the stitching, there are plenty of Pierre Joseph Redoute art prints out there.
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