Add MS 5287

Drawings of plants, mostly from Europe, attributed to the French artist Jean Joubert (1643-1707), who was employed as artist and miniaturist to King Louis XIV between 1685-1704, and specialised in drawings of plants and animals from the Jardin du Roi. The name 'Joubert' is inscribed on several drawings.

An inscription in Latin at the front of the album introduces the drawings as: "Plantae Alpinae, Hispanicae, Lusitanicae, Canadenses, & c. maximam partem delineatae a D.no Joubert. Nominata a D.no Tournefort. Comparatae ex Bibliotheca Eminent.mi Cardinalis Du Bois collectae ab Ill.mo Abbate Bignon". The library of Cardinal Guillaume Dubois, cleric and statesman during the reign of King Louis XV, was owned until 1718 by Jean-Paul Bignon, who sold his collection off when he was appointed librarian of the Royal Collection.

The drawings are executed on paper, with a black washline around the margins and pasted down on the folios of the album. Most drawings are executed in red chalk. Exceptions are items 109-117, which are executed in pen and ink and wash. Most red chalk drawings are accompanied by their offset pasted on the facing folio, namely a reverse image of the drawing obtained by impressing it onto another sheet. An inscription in pen and brown ink placed at the bottom of most drawings, presumably written by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, indicates the name of the plant in Latin. There are occasional cross-references to De Tournefort's book Institutiones Rei Herbariae (Paris, 1700).