whether to attribute a particular work to either master. As he spent most of his active career in England, a large portion of his work is in public and private collections in the UK. When in 1726 Casteels embarked on his first publishing venture, the production of 12 plates of bird scenes, he had not previously made any etchings except for two or three little plates as trials. The birds were depicted against gardens with classical decoration as background settings. The British Museum has a complete set of the original prints in its collection. It is possible that the direct or indirect inspiration for the series of paintings on the 12 months made by Casteels was a series of the 12 months by the Antwerp painter Pieter Snyers. The 12 paintings by Casteels were engraved by Henry Fletcher and published by Robert Furber, a British horticulturist, under the title the Twelve Months of Flowers in 1730. The prints illustrate seasonal flowers that could be ordered from Furber and are thus the first illustrated nursery catalogue published in England. Each plant is numbered, with a list of the corresponding species names provided. More than 400 different species of plant are featured. For clear identification each flower is depicted facing to the front and is arranged separately. The plates were originally sold on a subscription basis for £1 5s in uncolored form, or £2 12s 6d for a colored version. The subscribers included members of the aristocracy. Casteels, Furber and Fletcher had each invested £500 in the publishing venture. As they were able to find 457 subscribers, they each made a handsome profit even before the sale of the prints, the plants or the original paintings. A second edition was published in 1734, which included "The Flower-Garden for Gentlemen and Ladies" not present in the first edition of 1730. The plates of the later edition were engraved by Peter Smith and are reductions of the originals. The book was reprinted in 1982. The complete set of the 12 original paintings, which Casteels made for the series, were sold by Christie's on 25 May 2005 in New York as lot 1529. The set of paintings and engravings inspired Jacob van Huysum, who had recently moved to London from Amsterdam, to paint his own set of Twelve Months of Flowers (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) between 1732–6. Furber published the Twelve Months of Fruit in 1732.