Albert Robert Valentien

Albert Robert Valentien (1862–1925) was an American painter, botanical artist, and ceramic artist. He is best known for his work as the chief ceramics decorator at Rookwood Pottery, and for his watercolor paintings of botanical subjects. In 1908, he accepted a commission from philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps to illustrate the botanical diversity of California. Over the neighboring ten years, he produced approximately 1200 watercolor "plant portraits" of indigenous California wildflowers, grasses, ferns, and trees.