Part one of a two-part series of tree paintings. Today we feature female painters and then on Monday it’s the men. The aim is to show comparative renderings of these spectacular plants by some of the most renowned female artists ever. Although we have numbered them, this is not a rank, just a way to …
Beautiful old botanical paintings of cacti today from the book: “Iconographie descriptive des cactees, ou, Essais systematiques et raisonnes sur l’histoire naturelle, la classification et la culture des plantes de cette famille“. Which translates (roughly) to: Featured iconography cacti, or systematic and reasoned essays on natural history, classification and cultivation of plants in this family. …
Happy St David’s Day. Where would the UK be without beautiful Wales. To celebrate, we present daffodils and leeks in art. The Welsh for leek is cenhinen and the Welsh for daffodil is cenhinen Pedr which translates to Peter’s leek. It is thought that the latter was adopted as a second national emblem by accident, …
If you are in need of a quick run through of the state flowers of America then philately will get you everywhere. What nicer way to learn than by exploring the beautiful postal stamps below. You might even discover the state birds along the way. Philately is the study and collection of postage stamps and …
Cherry blossom festivals are soon to get underway all over the northern hemisphere. In some places they are small events, in others much bigger affairs. The more cherry trees in an urban area often denotes the likelihood of a festival. In essence, the purpose of these festivals, adopted from Japanese culture, is to celebrate feelings …
Upswept silky petals, delicate nodding heads, heart-shaped marbled foliage, often fragrant – cyclamen have a whole lot going for them. Although a favourite at this time of year, you could have one flowering every month if you so choose, as different species flower at different times and at the latest count, there are over twenty. …
Chris Ofili lives and works in Barbados and Trinidad. The photographed plant segments below are taken from his thrilling artworks currently on show at Victoria Miro, London.
Primavera (springtime) was painted in Renaissance Italy around 1480 by the artist Sandro Botticelli. It’s quite a large piece, almost life size, measuring 2.03m by 3.14m. If you want to view in person, you will need to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. If that’s not possible, a high resolution digital image (above) is …
The white lily must be up there as one of the most popular plants to be rendered in Western art. Over many centuries the main provider of these floral depictions has been paintings of The Annunciation; the Christian and Catholic celebration of archangel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother …
On the first floor of the V&A is a corridor full of stained glass. It illustrates the art of the glazier and glass painter from the middle of the 12th Century to the present day. Whole plants and plant motifs appear frequently in the detail. Creations found in the V&A must be an endless source of …