Portret van een onbekende vrouw before 1903

Here we see a portrait by Aura Hertwig, where the subject is adorned with flowers in her hair, a motif as old as time itself. The flowers, symbols of beauty and fleeting life, have blossomed across cultures, marking moments of joy and mourning. We find echoes of this floral adornment in Botticelli’s Flora, where the goddess emerges, cloaked in blossoms, embodying spring's regenerative power. Yet, venture further back, and we see that even in ancient funerary rites, flowers were entwined with the departed, a poignant farewell, their fragrance masking the scent of mortality. The appearance of flowers speaks to our subconscious desire to mask the inevitable decay with symbols of beauty and life. As such, this portrait becomes more than a mere likeness; it captures the eternal dance between existence and oblivion. The flowers may fade, but their symbolic weight persists, carried forth by the currents of cultural memory.