Flowers of New Granada
Between 1783 and 1816, José Celestino Mutis began an expedition across the Kingdom of New Granada (now known as Colombia) that would last some 30 years.
Its aim was to catalogue and draw all the local vegetable species, unknown in Europe. He brought with him a team of artists who undertook a task which, even though it didn’t end having any scientific purpose, produced over a thousand drawings that attracted admiration. This collection of prints was published for the first time in the 1980s as a collaboration between the governments of Spain and Colombia.
The Cervantes Institute of Beirut and the Embassy of Colombia in the Republic of Lebanon are delighted to present an exhibition of prints from this first edition as part of the Hay Festival 2012.
