Hortensia's en andere bloemen 1836

Anton Weiss rendered this drawing of Hortensia and other flowers with meticulous detail. The arrangement, a seemingly simple bouquet, carries layers of symbolic weight. In the Victorian era, giving flowers developed into a language of feeling, with hydrangeas representing heartfelt emotion. These floral emblems echo back through history, evoking the vanitas paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, where flowers symbolized the transient nature of life. Think of the ways artists have painted the Madonna with lilies to represent the Virgin Mary’s purity. Even in ancient Greece, flowers were linked with the gods. The human desire to find meaning in nature, and the subconscious urge to connect with the cyclical rhythms of life, persists. Each era leaves its traces on these symbols, layering meaning, transforming flowers into vessels of memory, and emotional expression.