Untitled c. late 19th century

This stereograph card with two images of a floral cross was made by an anonymous artist sometime in the 19th century. The composition is dominated by the central motif: a cross densely adorned with flowers. The artist has used blooms in full and muted colors, pink, yellow, and green. The flowers have been arranged to form a cross, but their density gives it a weight, a presence that feels almost sculptural. The stereograph format itself invites us to consider doubling and symmetry and here two nearly identical images are presented side by side. This doubling effect destabilizes the singularity of the image, suggesting a play between reproduction and uniqueness. The floral cross, a symbol laden with religious and cultural meaning, is here reproduced and presented for mass consumption. Consider how the artist's choice of floral medium, with its connotations of beauty, fragility, and ephemerality, intersects with the symbolic weight of the cross. This tension between form and meaning, between the material and the symbolic, creates a space for ongoing interpretation.