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The history of flowers
contains part of the history
of the mankind |
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Auerbach |
Flowers became an inseparable part of the arts of the mankind starting
from the time of its "golden childhood" - antiquity. Flower festivals
were held in Ancient Rome in honour of goddess Flora and women used to
compete in running and wrestling accompanied by the sounds of horns and
kettle-drums. The winners were strewn with flowers and awarded with wreaths.
Rose was a sacred flower of Venus, her attribute in the Renaissance and
later. The Renaissance associated rose and Venus because of the beauty
and odour of this flower and compared scratches of the rose thorns with
the wounds of love. In Christian symbolism rose also obtained special
importance: red rose symbolises blood of a martyr, white rose is a symbol
of purity of the Virgin who was otherwise called a "rose without thorns".
Lily in Christian art also symbolises purity of the Virgin. Archangel
Gabriel hands a lily to Madonna in the scene of the Annunciation. Numerous
flowers fill in the background of "millefiori" tapestries commemorating
the festivals of the Holy Body of Christ when European towns were buried
in flowers.
In the stil lifes of the 17th century flowers played the main role reminding
about perishable nature of the world and brevity of pleasures as short
as the life of a flower.
The gallantry age, the 18th century, in Europe considered flowers as
decorative elements of life. They were everywhere - in the decor of interiors,
painted panels, costumes and accessoirs. Taking gelight in contemplating
flowers was a source of refined pleasures in the Eastern countries. Flowers
decorated ceramics, fabrics and works of calligraphic art there. Miscellaneous
forms and colours of flowers could not fail to attract artists of new
trends of art in the 19th-20th centuries. Flowers became an inexhaustible
source for creative experiments.
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Flora
Tenerani Pietro
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Vase of Flowers
Mignon, Abraham
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Sunflowers
Gauguin Paul
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The Annunciation
Cima da Conegliano
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The Madonna and Child
Antonio da Firenze
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Venus Consoling Cupid Stung by a Bee
West, Benjamin
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