Alfred Riocreux

Tutored by his father, Riocreux soon became skilled in drawing and painting. Alfred also worked at the Sèvres factory and his work, which included botanical drawings, was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1837, 1838 and 1855. In 1870 he was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. In 1856 he became a member of the Société Impériale et Centrale d’Horticulture. His interest in botanical illustration was furthered through meeting the botanist Adolphe Theodore Brongniart. It seems probable that Brongniart first introduced Riocreux to the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, where he befriended the botanist and author Joseph Decaisne, who later named the genus Riocreuxia in his honour, and in turn, introduced him to Gustave Thuret. He also used Riocreux's talents to illustrate the nine volumes of "Le Jardin Fruitier du Muséum" (1858–1875). This led to more illustrating for other botanists, such as Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul's "Choix de Plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande" (1846), W.B. Hemsley's "Handbook of Hardy Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants" (1873) and Gustave Thuret's "Notes Algologiques" (1876–1880) and "Etudes Phycologiques" (1878), the latter being highly acclaimed. His illustrations were also used in the journals "La Revue Horticole and Annales des Sciences Naturelles". Édouard André chose Riocreux to arrange the engravings for C.S. Sargent's "Silva of North America", in twelve volumes from 1890 to 1899. Alfred Riocreux was working from Paris, Riocreux supervised the production of the six hundred plates drawn in pencil by Charles Edward Faxon (1846–1918) and engraved by Philibert and Eugene Picart. He was an early exponent of using a microscope for botanical dissections. His work may be seen at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The collection was described as "exceedingly rare and exquisitely illustrated..bound in crushed Levant, beautifully tooled, no date".

• Illustration — Dianthus barbatus • Illustration — Crinum amabile • Illustration — Viola (Garden Varieties) of lutea and curtisii • Illustration — Clarkia rubicunda