This volume reproduces the flower paintings of 17th-century botanical artist Johann Walther of Strassburg. They were commissioned by the Count of Nassau, who set about the creation of a garden of rare plants and flowers at his castle at Idstein near Frankfurt. The flower paintings include around 20 flower species and are complemented by depictions of fruit from some of the botanical illustrators of the age. Essays by Gill Saunders from The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, place plants in their historical and present-day context. Many of these now-familiar flowers were great novelties in Europe at the time Walther was painting.