Pancrace Bessa - Artist Info

About Pancrace Bessa

  • Biography

    One the leading painters of flowers and fruit in the first half of the 19th century in France, Pancrace Bessa was born in the Marais district of Paris. He was briefly a pupil of the engraver and botanical illustrator Gerard van Spaendonck, but was most influenced by the work of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, with whom he also studied; one of only a handful of men to do so, since most of Redouté’s pupils were women.

    Bessa probably accompanied Redouté as part of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt in 1798, and later collaborated with him on the illustrations for François-André Michaux’s Arbres forestiers de l’Amérique septentrionale, published between 1810 and 1813, and Aimé Bonpland’s Description des plantes rares cultivées à Malmaison ...

    But wait, there's more...

    Displaying 3,452 of 3,436 characters.

    Subscriber Members, please Sign In for full artist biographies and all services.

    For non-paying users, good news! Full text bios for all artists are available every Friday.

    If you are not currently a member, please See Details about membership.

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at .

Share an image of the Artist: .