USDA Pomological Watercolor Fruit — Antique Botanical Print

This print is drawn from the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, an archive of roughly 7,500 watercolor paintings commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture between 1886 and 1942 to record the nation's fruit and nut varieties. Because color photography was not yet reliable enough to capture the subtle shading that distinguished one cultivar from another, the USDA employed a corps of some 65 artists, about a third of them women, to paint each specimen with scientific precision. More than half of the collection depicts apple varieties, many of which have since vanished from cultivation, leaving these watercolors as the only surviving record of what those lost fruits actually looked like.

Materials & origin

• Material: 200 gsm gallery-grade, acid-free fine-art paper (FSC-certified).
• Print: Archival giclée, 12-colour printing, smooth matte finish for glare-free display.
• Artwork: Restored from a public-domain original; colour and detail digitally cleaned for large-format print.
• Origin: Made on demand and shipped from the print hub nearest you, cutting transit and waste.
• Framing: Sold unframed; ships rolled in a protective tube.