Pancrace Bessa was a French natural history artist, best known for his botanical illustrations. Bessa was a student of the great engraver Gerard van Spaendonck and worked alongside Pierre-Joseph Redouté, some of whose influence shows in Bessa's detailed and delicate treatment of his subjects. He was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salons between 1806 and 1831. The standard author abbreviation Bessa is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Bessa's favourite subjects were fruit and flowers, with occasional digressions to birds and mammals. In 1816, the Duchesse de Berry, daughter-in-law of King Charles X of France, extended her patronage to him, which led to his giving painting lessons to the de Berry family. Their art connections went back to the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Bessa also worked on the French royal watercolour collection on vellum the Velins du Roi from 1823 until his death.
In the early nineteenth century, Bessa, Redouté, Jean-Louis Prévost, Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé, and Madame Vincent raised France to pre-eminence in the genre of botanical painting.