I’ve been on a kick lately identifying several iconic set decorations from Mark Frost and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. I love finding these background art pieces after seeing them during multiple rewatches for more than three decades. Today, I’m returning to the Hayward house where a beautiful illustration of roses by Pierre-Josephe Redouté created in 1821.
During the first two seasons of Twin Peaks, you can see framed artwork by Pierre-Josephe Redouté hanging in the Hayward’s dining room.
This artwork appears in some of the most iconic moments including when James, Maddy and Donna listen to Laura Palmer’s tapes to Dr. Jacoby in episodes 1.006 and 1.007; Maddy Ferguson sees BOB climb over the Hayward’s couch in episode 2.002; or the Milford brothers get into a scuffle in episode 2.010.
WHO IS PIERRE-JOSEPHE REDOUTÉ?
Painter and botanist Pierre-Josephe Redouté was born on July 10, 1759 in in Saint-Hubert in the Belgian Luxembourg. As the second of three brothers who were also artists, he was trained by botanists in France. Redouté is best known for his watercolors of roses, lilies and other flowers found at the Château de Malmaison, a French château situated near the left bank of the Seine, about 9.3 miles west of the centre of Paris.
He was nicknamed “the Raphael of flowers” and was called the greatest botanical illustrator of all time by Alesandra M. Schmidt and Trudy B. Jacoby in their book, “Herbs to Orchids: Botanical Illustration in the Nineteenth Century.”
Redouté gave it being a scenic painter to study botany at the Paris Museum of Natural History where he showed promising talent for flower portraiture. After his teacher encouraged him to create several plates, he took him on a trip to London. There, he learned the Bartolozzi method of color printing, which used the “crayon” method of stipple engraving. After his London trip, he began work with Gerard Van Spaendonck as assistant to this master flower painter.
Redouté was an official court artist of Marie Antoinette, and continued painting through the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. After Queen Marie-Antoinette, his patrons included both of Napoleon’s wives – Empress Joséphine and Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma – as well as Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, wife of Louis Philippe I, the last king of France.
He was painting during a period in botanical illustration (1798 – 1837) that is noted for the publication of outstanding folio editions with colored plates. He made over 2,100 published plates depicting over 1,800 different species, many never rendered before. The earliest work containing his floral portraits was published in 1799; the last was published posthumously in 1844.
Redouté taught and painted up to the day he died on June 19 or June 20, 1840 at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife, Marie-Marte Gobert, whom he married in 1786, and their two daughters. He was interred in the largest cemetery in Paris, France, Père Lachaise Cemetery, which is also the final resting place for Georges Méliès, Georges Bizet, Jim Morrison, and Oscar Wilde.
ROSA GALLICA AURELIANENSIS BY PIERRE-JOSEPHE REDOUTÉ
Redouté’s image of the Rosa Gallica Aurelianensis or La Duchesse d’Orléans (the Duchess of Orleans) was created in 1821 for his “Choix des plus belles fleurs”, published in parts (each part containing four plates) in Paris from 1827 to 1833. The image was engraved by Eustache Hyacinthe Langlois (1777-1837) based on Redouté original.
According to an article published in The Patriot-News on June 4, 1950 by Tom Ormsbee and titled, “Know your heirlooms: French Floral Prints,” color flower prints began appearing in modern homes as decorative pictures around 1935.
“The charm of their arrangement and beauty of their coloring made them specially pleasing when framed and hung on the walls of a guest room for instance,” wrote Ormbsee.
Most likely, the print in the Hayward house was a reproduction of Redouté’s work. In the middle of last century, department stores sold sets of framed rose prints made by the skilled artist.
In Twin Peaks episode 1.006, you can see handwritten details along the bottom of the print hanging behind Donna.
You can see similar writing along the bottom of the framed print. Reproductions of this image are still available online today in case you wanted to add one to your dining room.
ROSA GALLICA AURELIANENSIS APPEARANCES IN TWIN PEAKS
The first appearance of the framed artwork appears in episode 1.001 when Donna Hayward and James Hurley are sitting at the dining room table in her home. Only the bottom of the frame is present.
The first real look at the image appears in episode 1.002 after dinner at the Hayward house. Doctor and Eileen Hayward say goodnight to James and Donna. In the distance, Redouté’s hanging above the dining room table.
Later in the episode, the image hangs silently in the background as Donna and James share an intimate moment.
In episode, 1.006 we get a closer look at the image when James Hurley, Donna Hayward and Maddy Ferguson are listening to Laura Palmer’s cassette recordings.
The camera cuts back to a wide angle shot of the living room with the trio in the dining room.
The trio return to the dining room after acquiring another cassette from Dr. Jacoby’s office. The rose print hangs on the wall behind Maddy.
At the start of the show’s second season in episode 2.001, Gersten Hayward welcomes her family to the Hayward Supper Club.
When Harriett stands up at the dining room table to read her poem about Laura, we get a closer shot of the rose print.
As James, Donna and Maddy perform “Just You” in the living room during episode 2.002, you can see the framed image in the distance.
A few episodes later as the town gathers for Leland Palmer’s wake, you can see the rose print in the distance.
A close up is seen briefly in the same episode when Hank Jennings fills a plate of food for Sarah Palmer.
As the action continues in episode 2.010, the image is perfectly positioned between the Milford brothers when they have a small scuffle.
In the latter half of the second season, the framed image is seen a handful of times. In episode 2.017, an empty living room and dining room are briefly seen before Donna Hayward welcomes Windom Earle dressed as Gerald Craig into her house.
The final time we see Redouté’s image is in episode 2.021 when Donna Hayward confronts her parents before leaving for the Miss Twin Peaks contest.
Inexplicably, the image was replaced with a different floral print for the deleted scenes that show up in The Missing Pieces of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. But I’ll have to identify that image another time.
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