The Golden Apple and the Baroque Garden: Ferrari’s Hesperides and the First Book of Citrus
When Giovanni Battista Ferrari published Hesperides in Rome in 1646, he created the first book in history devoted entirely to citrus — and one of the most sumptuous works of Baroque botanical art ever produced. A look at the Jesuit botanist, the Barberini patrons, the golden apples of mythology, and the copper engravings that made science and wonder inseparable.