Drawing of the Day: Plants and Insects, 1680

Page of Watercolors
Alexander Marshal
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Images Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Alexander Marshal (c. 1620-82), the gentleman horticulturalist, was not a trained artist, but managed to produce, over thirty years, an impressive tome—his “florilegium” (flower book) which, in the end, contained 154 folios recording interesting and rare plants growing in the English gardens of his friends.

Here’s another page from Marshal’s Florilegium which was acquired by King George IV in the 1820s. This page shows Marshal’s watercolor sketches of four plants and two insects: a grasshopper and a silk worm. The plants depicted are carnations, fennel and damsons. 

Object of the Day, Caption Contest: An Unusual Victorian Chromolithograph

Click image to enlarge.

This is not a trade card. It’s not really a scrap either. Scraps were made specifically as scraps, intended to be used for scrapbooks and other projects. This is an image from a magazine which has been carefully and meticulously cut out. Many, many Victorian women and men cut images from publications and used them as scraps. You can tell the difference—if you can get a look at the reverse of one—is that these cut-out pieces are printed on the back, not with a business’ information, but with the remainder of whatever was on the next page. In this case, it’s various ads for coffee and, oddly enough, chemicals.

I can see why this was cut out as it’s an attractive scene printed on very thick paper. I’d guess it was on the cover of a magazine or a smaller publication printed in Chicago, Illinois. It has all the hallmarks of 1880s commercial art—a charming landscape with an overlay of flowers. The flowers in question are red carnations. In the fashionable “Language of Flowers” which was prevalent at the time, especially in Britain, red carnations symbolized deep affection. They were assigned such phrases as, “Alas my heart!” or “My heart aches for you!”

Since we’re doing daily caption contests this week (except for tomorrow, I admit) to mark our second anniversary, let’s see what you’ve got to say about this image. It’s not an ad, but you can make it an ad if you want. What’s happening in this scene? Why was this particular image saved? Did it mean something to someone? I’ve so enjoyed your comments this week, so let’s keep it going.

Painting of the Day: Life in the Hareem, Cairo; An Inmate of the Hareem, Cairo, 1858

Life in the Hareem
John Frederick Lewis, 1858
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made in 1858, “Life in the Hareem, Cairo” appears, at first glance, to be another so-called “Orientalist” painting with no obvious or relevant story behind it.   However, this image relies on the then-popular “Language of Flowers” to tell its story. 

The posy of flowers held in the lap of the main figure is a love letter, in the language of flowers.  This device was a favorite of the artist, John Frederick Lewis, and he  often incorporated it into his work.

The painting shows a view of the interior of the women's quarters of a Mamluk house in Cairo, as an ornately-dressed woman, reclining on cushions, holds a bouquet of flowers and another woman brings a tray with coffee cups.

Lewis completed this watercolor painting in Walton-on-Thames, England though it is based on his many years living in Egypt.