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Helianthus annuus

Sunflower

Compositae

1561: Birth of Basilius Besler, son of Michael Besler, in Nuremberg on the 13th February.

1586: Besler marries Rosine Flock.

1596: Second marriage to Susanne Schmidt. From his two marriages, Besler would have sixteen children altogether.

1589–1629: Besler manages the apothecary shop Zum Marienbild in Nuremberg. There he creates and maintains a botanical garden as well as a collection of curiosities (Naturalienkabinett).

1597: The bishop of Eichstatt commissions Besler to create a botanical garden at Willibaldsburg. He designs a garden of one hectare comprising eight terraces. To realise this, Besler turns to the botanists Charles de l’Écluse, Joachim Camerarius le Jeune and Ludwig Jungermann for help.

Following this, Besler undertakes an inventory of the rare and little-known plants of the time.

Introductory plate: Portrait of Basilius Besler

1607: Birth of his nephew Michel-Basile Besler.

1613: Besler publishes his Hortus Eystettensis in Eichstatt and Nuremberg. The work brings together 1,084 species of plants, classed in order of appearance according to the seasons, comprising 367 plates engraved using intaglio techniques, principally by Wolfgang Kilian. Printed in black and white, the herbarium was coloured by painters engaged by the richest buyers of the work.

1616: Publication of engravings of the rarest “products” of nature, which he had brought together in his collection of curiosities.

1627: Hieronymus Besler, Basilius’ brother, prints a new edition of the Hortus Eystettensis, a less lavish version with just 96 plates.

1629: Basilius Besler dies on the 13th March in Nuremberg.

1646–1648: Michel-Basile Besler publishes Mantissa ad Viretum stirpium Eystettense, as a complement and homage to his uncle’s Hortus Eystettensis.

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