Lilium bulbiferum (brand-lilje) 1649 - 1659

Hans Simon Holtzbecker made this study of an orange lily, Lilium bulbiferum, using watercolour on paper. The work is now held in the Statens Museum for Kunst. Holtzbecker, active in seventeenth-century Copenhagen, worked as an artist for the Danish royal family. This botanical study, along with others he produced, was part of a comprehensive illustrated codex of flowers from the royal gardens. At the time, Denmark was a major European power, and royal patronage of the arts and sciences was an important means of displaying wealth and power. Holtzbecker’s detailed and accurate illustrations served both aesthetic and scientific purposes, documenting the exotic plants cultivated in the royal gardens. To fully understand this image and its context, we need to look at archival records about the artist’s patrons, study botanical treatises, and consider the history of collecting and display in early modern Europe. Art like this reminds us that its creation and meaning are always shaped by the society and institutions that support it.