Snowdrops in art

[Stefan Vidts]

Hello all of you, very interesting topping over here.
As snowdropcolector and art historian I've a keen interest for flower into art trough the last centuries. Snowdrops are of course one of  my favourites.
Snowdrops, just Galanthus nivalis,  are, in some area, growing wild over here in Belgium so we find them back into art since the early middle ages.
There is a very beautiful and changing emblematic association with the flower. I did a keen ans systematic research on that topic and I already did several conferences. They explain the changing emblematic meaning of the snowdrop through the centuries. As key examples I use masterpieces and more intimate pieces of our art history and also make a link with endemic snowdrops here in Belgium to explain the topic Belgian art or in UK collections called 'Flemish Art'  and some beautiful, in my opinion , variations I found here locally.
In addition one of the watercolour I made myself with snowdrop as a topic. I'm translating my website in English and the conferences I give will be on it. I hope to finish it around the end of the month. 
www.stefanvidts.be
 

[Brian Ellis]

Welcome to the forum Stefan, I am sure we are all interested in what your research has shown and will enjoy looking at your website.  Nice snowdrop find

[loes]

Hi Stefan,
Not showing a photo of your very lovely 'Parcel' ?

[Lina Hesseling]

Stefan, the talk you did in Winschoten for the Royal Horticulteral Society "Groei en Bloei" about gardenhistory was very good. Great pictures and a good story, told with humor.
And the one at Kalmthout about snowdrops I liked too.
I will always remember the great picture of the little stream with lots of snowdrops. So beautifull!

Lina.

[Maggi Young]

Hello Stefan,
I do hope it is not long before we are welcoming you to talk in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

[Stefan Vidts]

Thanks Lina for the compliment, is was great for me to be invited in Winschoten, certainly with a great audience as your garden club has. Rarely seen so enthusiastic people.
Maggi I would be delighted to be invited in England or in the Scotland. I think I have an interesting talk that will please a lot of people.
Just back form a walk in the garden, before the next rain will fall,  , and was happy surprised, finally I reached to select a double stable form with 4 or 5 outer petals and 3 inner petals, 3 and 5 are great religious numbers. (6 is the number of the devil, that's why snowdrops where banned in catholic representations form the 17th century onwards. But that's my talk.
I give you here some of the selections witch turned out to be prolific and stable.
Hope they will please all of you. For the parcell lovers, It cooked the bulbs and they seemed and potted them up, and, .... they don't seem to be stable this year, they were for 2 years, but, ..... , not this year.
Hope the pictures will please all of you. Now translating the site, .... very hard during snowdropseason 

[Brian Ellis]

Your 'Passion of Christ' is a lovely snowdrop with the aberrant inners like 'St Pancras', 'Mosquito' and now 'Berthille', I rather like the effect and it is well named.

[Stefan Vidts]

Thanks Brian, i's a still only a name suggestion, but as I as art historian and garden designer often between my snowdrops and the art I found a keen name as well. Especially  when you know that catholic church did a whole crusade against snowdrops into art when they realised they had 6 (2x3) petals.
Six is the number of the devil and since the early 18th century you hardly will find it represented in catholic  regions while before it was part of the standard flower symbols. So I suggest to name it this way so catholic church has with snowdrop a convenient flower for there religious numerologies.     

[Maggi Young]

Art in Postage Stamps...... coming soon:

British Flora - Spring Blooms Stamp Set



"The six Spring Blooms Post & Go Stamps are printed in a vertical strip and overprinted with First Class values. They are brought to you on a carrier complete with fascinating facts about each of these beautiful but in some cases declining species.

Primrose
Walk into a clearing in the woods and you could well be pleasantly surprised by a colony of primroses, for a sheltered spot between the trees is one of their favoured habitats, as well as parks and churchyards. According to folklore, these lemon-yellow flowers with their heart-shaped petals – which flower from February to May – will grow red if watered with bullock’s blood or planted upside down on Good Friday

Snowdrop
Haunting woods, meadows, parks and churchyards, these delicate lantern-shaped blooms encapsulate, for many, the beginning of spring. From the Amaryllidaceae family, they are in flower in February and March. A symbol of hope and purity, the snowdrop is traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Lesser Celandine
Catch these bright yellow star-like flowers on a sunny spring day and you will be in for a treat, for they open wide in the sunshine. Spot them in woods and hedgerows and on road verges and the banks of streams from March to May. ‘Local’ names for the celandine include ‘goldy knob’, ‘filding cup’ and ‘golden guinea’.

Common Dog Violet
From April to June, these rich purple flowers bloom across Britain’s woods, downlands and grass heaths. From the Violaceae family, dog violets are widespread throughout the British Isles

Wild Daffodil
The iconic bright yellow flower that famously inspired William Wordsworth blooms from February to April, and is seen in coppice and open woodland. Its Latin name, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, is said to have come from the Greek mythological figure Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. The daffodil’s trumpet shaped centre is seen as the head of Narcissus bending down while he admires his face in the water. Daffodils are traditionally meant to first flower on St David’s Day – 1 March.

Blackthorn
Forming hedgerows and scrub, the white flowers of this very spiny shrub are in bloom from March to May. Come the autumn, the blackthorn produces sloes – those plump, purple berries that are used, of course, to make sloe gin."

Specifications
Design Kate Stephens
Illustration Julia Trickey
Stamp format /size Landscape 56mm x 25mm

Released on 19th February
Issue Date: 19 February 2014
Catalogue code: ZS027
£3.60 (incl VAT)   see here : http://shop.royalmail.com/post+go-stamps/british-flora-spring-blooms-stamp-set/invt/20120208

[Maggi Young]

Little image of an American snowdrop stamp from 1996 :

[fermi de Sousa]

Little image of an American snowdrop stamp from 1996 :

I remember using them when I was living there!
Probably have some used ones ...somewhere!
cheers,
fermi

[Oakwood]

ones more droppy nails of my colleague-botanist! 

[David Nicholson]

From RHS Rosemoor today:-

[Alan_b]

Given the prices that some real snowdrops fetch. £35 seems cheap!

[Gail]

This is a painting of St Dorothy on the rood screen at St Mary's church in Somerleyton, Suffolk. Given that her feast day is 6th Feb, I'm assuming that the flowers are meant to be snowdrops?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/2563394761/