Convolvulus tricolor (jomfruskørt); Ipomoea purpurea (purpur-pragtsnerle) 1649 - 1659

Hans Simon Holtzbecker rendered these convolvulus tricolor and ipomoea purpurea flowers with watercolor and gouache. The delicate morning glories, twisting skyward, are symbols of transience and beauty, their ephemeral nature captured in Holtzbecker's meticulous detail. The spiraling form of the morning glory vine echoes motifs found in ancient Minoan art, where serpentine lines represented the cyclical nature of life and the connection between earthly and divine realms. This form reappears throughout history, perhaps most strikingly in Bernini's "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa," where the saint's body writhes in divine rapture, mirroring the plant's ascent. The morning glory's ascent might stir in us the collective memory of striving and transformation. Just as the plant reaches for the sun, so too does the human spirit yearn for enlightenment and transcendence. Indeed, it has proven to be a motif that continues to resurface, its essence transforming yet eternally bound to our shared human experience.