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William Henry Prestele - Prunus avium: Black Republican

Prunus avium: Black Republican (1892)

William Henry Prestele (American, 1838 – 1895)
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License: All public domain files can be freely used for personal and commercial projects.
Why is this image in the public domain?
The Artist died in 1895 so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries where the copyright term is the Artist's life plus 70 years or fewer. It is in the public domain in the United States because it was published or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before Jan 1, 1926

Wilhelm Heinrich Prestele (or William Henry Prestele) was a botanical artist known for his lithographs and watercolor work commissioned by the US Department of Agriculture.

Prestele was born on October 13, 1838, in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, to Franz Joseph Martin Prestele and Karoline Russ. The family emigrated to America in 1843, settling first in New York and later in the Amana Colonies in Iowa. His father, known in America as Joseph Prestele, was also a painter and lithographer of flowers and fruits and prior to emigrating had been head gardener for King Ludwig I of Bavaria as well as a staff artist for a time at the Royal Botanical Garden in Munich. From his father he learned the arts of watercolor and lithography.

In the late 1850s, Prestele moved to New York, and in 1861 he joined the Union Army as a private in a regiment of New York volunteers. He was wounded at the battle of Antietam in 1862 and spent the remainder of his service period recovering in hospital. Sometime around 1863, he married an Irish woman named Anne, and with her he had three children—Margaret (1864), Frances (ca. 1869), and Emma (1870)—before Anne died in 1871 or 1872.

In 1867, at the age of 29, William was hired to make a series of nurserymen's plates by Illinois nursery owner Franklin Kelsey Phoenix. He moved his family from New York to Bloomington, Illinois, for this project. No plates from this project are known to have survived, but a write-up in the August 1869 edition of Gardener's Monthly and Horticultural Advertiser praised them in robust terms: "We have now before us a fruit piece... prepared by W. H. Prestele. We are in the habit of admiring European art in this line, and have often wished Americans could successfully compete with it. We now have it here. We never saw anything of the kind better executed from any part of the world".

When this relationship ended in 1871, William briefly went into business with L. B. Littlefield, publishing fruit and flower plates. In 1875, he moved his family to Iowa, not far from the Amana community where he was raised, and married his second wife, Susanna Gefaller. With Susanna, who died in 1882, he had a daughter, Lillian. He set up as a lithographer in Iowa City and practiced this trade for a decade or so.

On August 1, 1887, he was appointed as the first artist on the staff of the recently formed Pomological Division of the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. He was assigned to make life-size watercolors of native grapes intended as illustrations for a monograph by Thomas Volney Munson of Denison, Texas, a leading authority on native grapes. He worked from live and dried specimens sent to him by Munson, making color sketches of details that Munson would then review; Prestele would then use these detail drawings would to create a life-size painting of the species. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture eventually decided the cost of printing the monograph with the illustrations would be prohibitive, so it was never published in its intended form, though Munson went on to use the text he wrote as the foundation for his highly regarded book Foundations of American Grape Culture. Munson's book was illustrated with photographs instead of with Prestele's watercolors, which remained in the collection of the USDA.

Prestele's paintings are noted for their naturalness and attention to botanical accuracy. Over a hundred of his watercolors of grapes and other fruit are held in the National Agricultural Library's Pomological Watercolor Collection.

He died in Arlington, Virginia on August 16, 1895, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. A collection of his papers spanning the years 1887-1891 is held by the USDA National Agricultural Library Special Collections and comprises original watercolors and drawings, plant specimens, and other materials, including work related to the planned Munson monograph.

In Collection: USDA Pomological Watercolors (View all 1130)

Persea: Lyon

Persea: Lyon (1911)

Ellen Isham Schutt (American, 1873 – 1955)
Prunus domestica: Stanley

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Anonymous
Prunus persica: Sunrise Cling

Prunus persica: Sunrise Cling (1910)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Pyrus communis: Wiest

Pyrus communis: Wiest (1898)

Deborah Griscom Passmore (American, 1840–1911)
Rubus

Rubus (1910)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Citrus paradisi: Silver Cluster

Citrus paradisi: Silver Cluster (1916)

Royal Charles Steadman (American, 1875 – 1964)
Prunus domestica

Prunus domestica (1913)

James Marion Shull (American, 1872–1948)
Mangifera indica: Peters No

Mangifera indica: Peters No (1909)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Manilkara zapota: No

Manilkara zapota: No (1906)

Ellen Isham Schutt (American, 1873 – 1955)
Vitis

Vitis

Anonymous
Prunus avium: Cass

Prunus avium: Cass (1917)

Royal Charles Steadman (American, 1875 – 1964)
Fragaria: M

Fragaria: M (1911)

Ellen Isham Schutt (American, 1873 – 1955)
Pyrus communis: Canners Japan

Pyrus communis: Canners Japan (1906)

Deborah Griscom Passmore (American, 1840–1911)
Prunus persica

Prunus persica (1914)

James Marion Shull (American, 1872–1948)
Cydonia oblonga: Cydonia oblonga

Cydonia oblonga: Cydonia oblonga (1918)

Royal Charles Steadman (American, 1875 – 1964)
View all 1130 Artworks

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