On the symbolism of flowers in classical art.
(Part 1)site - http://shursha.com
rare visitor to the gallery will not stop the view of Dutch still life with flowers. Like yesterday, rather than four hundred years ago, wrote these magnificent bloom or chastely stocked bowls - so bright colors, so silky petals with drops the wet dew that fancies in the air begins to loom delicate flavor. Mastery of painting and the charm of the thing itself deservedly attracted to flower still-life audience's attention. But few people think about what still lifes of the XVII century - only the brightest, the triumphant moment in the long history of images Flowers in art.
Since time immemorial, people appreciated not only the medicinal properties, but also raduyuschuyu eyes the beauty of these marvelous creations of nature and included the flowers in the context of culture. Flowers have been associated with the gods, they were a symbol of power or the will of the gods, served as an offering during worship. In reliefs and frescoes of ancient Egypt are often seen image of the person smell the lotus. Egyptians considered sacred lotus flower containing divine power, and inhaling its aroma should have been endowed with this power of man. Another area where already in the early cultures used the flower symbolism covered the whole sphere of love relationships in life, love lyrics and secular erotic art. In ancient Greece, the patroness of flowers and gardens considered Goddess of Love - "fialkouvenchannaya Aphrodite. The ancient Greeks tried with mythological figures and stories to explain the beauty of flowers, seasons and the cyclical rebirth of nature. They believed in the animacy of plants, assuming that each of them lived a magical creature - dryad or nymph.
Antique anthropomorphism vividly expressed in "Metamorphoses" by Ovid. Composition of the Roman poet I century AD contains the Greek legend about the origin of various birds, animals and plants that were once human beings and their new found appearance at the behest of the gods. Stories from the Metamorphoses of Hyacinth and Narcissus, transformed into flowers are known more than others, not least because of the prevalence of color themselves. The product has earned the undying Ovid glory through the ages. Over two millennia, was created huge number of works on subjects "Metamorphosis." Perhaps most notable among them - Poussin painting "The Kingdom of Flora", in which the artist has unexpectedly returned to the heroes of their human form, depicted in the form of beautiful young men and women as they were before the transformation.
In ancient Rome, the guardian of flowers and gardens revered Flora - goddess of fruit-bearing powers of nature, one of the oldest Roman pantheon of deities. She focused on the Floralia - a holiday in honor of the goddess, celebrated between April 28 and May 3 and features the greatest liberty mores. The custom of celebrating Floralia revived in Renaissance Florence, and in this "flourishing" city (fiorente - in Italian "blooming") was established the most famous monument to Flora - Botticelli's painting "Spring". In embroidered flowers dress light step treads goddess, throwing red and white Rose, defining the beginning of spring bloom on the ground. Its appearance extremely similar to the image of Flora in the Pompeian frescoes, although they were discovered much later and the artist could not see them.
In ancient Greece and Rome, as in ancient Egypt, was widely spread custom to use the flower decoration during religious and secular celebrations. Wreaths and garlands decorated with statues of gods and participants in religious processions, the Greeks planted flowers on the graves of the dead and showered with rose petals and violets bed Suite. In imperial Rome, passion flowers, especially roses, came to the extremes. Rose, the former hitherto attribute Venus / Uranus - the goddess of love sublime and honorable marriage, is now dedicated to Venus, Pandemos - the goddess of sensual love, it becomes a flower luxury and corruption, an indispensable accessory orgies.
The famous dining room in the palace of Nero, the ceiling and walls of which were rotated during the feast using a special mechanism and alternately depicted the four seasons, instead of hail and rain on the guests began to pour in fresh rose petals. During the feasts a carpet of rose petals carpet the floors, are decorated with flowers were not only guests, but also servants, dancers, food, tables, dishes and themselves. At one of the feasts, arranged Emperor Geliogabalom, guests threw so many rose petals falling from the ceiling, that some of the noble patrician suffocated under the them, much to the delight of the owner.
For the early Christians rose as an attribute of a vicious and depraved of Rome as a symbol of destruction and death. Tertullian wrote a strong message against the use of a wreath of roses, and Clement of Alexandria, revered sin crowning his head in such a wreath. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the early days of Christianity flowers as decorations and themes for the paintings were rejected, and yet fell into disrepair culture of flowers and gardens.
new impetus for development was obtained in the VIII. under Charlemagne. During the Crusades in Moorish Spain, the emperor saw the Arab gardens, in which each flower has its value - the language of flowers used by wives in a harem. Blessed shade, the murmur of the cool fountain, fragrance and beauty unseen flowers gave body and soul desired repose. In these gardens, oriental emperor saw truly transform the heavenly paradise on earth. Decree 795, Carl Commanded a great break in their castles, and monasteries and gardens and put them in medicinal plants, fruits and vegetables, and flowers - roses, poppies, lilies and irises, and thus laid the foundations of European horticulture.
Around the same time began the development of Christian symbols and language of flowers colors. After centuries, the beauty of flowers has conquered the holy fathers, and the best plants are associated with the Virgin Mary, Christ and the saints. In the preserved description of the monastery garden in Germany at that time the author identified "two flowers, especially the favorite and earned admiration over the centuries that are as symbols of the great treasures of the church - a rose, symbol of the spilled blood of the martyrs, and a lily - a shining symbol of faith. "
texts of the Bible given food Christian thinkers to build symbolic structures and allegories. In the verses of the Psalms, in the prophecies of Isaiah, in the pages of the New Testament words are repeated, likens human life grass. "As for man, his days are like grass, he does not bloom longer than the flower of the field. The wind passed over it - and it is gone, and the place where it was not known " - These verses from Psalm 103 to the centuries become an impressive way impermanence and transience of earthly life. Since the glory of the worldly and earthly life of perishable goods and ephemeral, a flower in Christian art as a symbol of emptiness (Latin vanitas) - empty bustle of achieving wealth and honors.
Together with the words of the prophet Isaiah about the germ from the root of the tree of Jesse and a flower that will give this escape, theologians interpreted as a prophecy of the Virgin Mary and Christ. Conventional metaphor for Christian writers became the image of Christ - the finest of flowers, and this contributed to the justification of the nature and perception of her in a positive sense. The beauty of flowers has become proof that the world was created by God.
Propagation of Christian symbolism in the world of plants based at the thought of theologians of the Middle Ages that God has revealed his wisdom, not only through word of his first book - the Holy Scriptures, but by the second "book" - Creation of the universe with the earth and populating it with all animals and plants. To the medieval mind characterized by a symbolic way of thinking, and its hallmark was versatility extends to all manifestations of life. Any phenomenon of earthly life, any object, including and from the world of plants, in addition to its direct meaning could be interpreted allegorically and symbolically, as both the smallest creature to behold a great help wisdom of God.
acted as a "mechanism" of this consciousness, perfectly described in "Life of St. Francis of Assisi:" After Treatment his eyes were opened, as if illiterate learn to read. Now all he had seen the seal of God - the Creator and the Savior: a piece of wood meant for him Cross Stone - Jesus Christ, called in Scripture the cornerstone, the flowers - also our Lord called lily of the valleys ... sun reminded him about God, it was a symbol of truth. " He believed that the Creator is angry, if not will appreciate his gifts, and brotherly love embraces the whole lower world creations, expressing it in the words of the hymn:
Praise be to Thee, my Lord, from our mother earth,
She nourishes us and directs us,
generates us the fruit is set,
Flowers gives us red and grass.
collection of religious writings of St. Francis of Assisi called "Flowers".
many colors known by the writings of ancient authors (notably botanist Dioscorides), under the Latin names, were in Christian times the name of religion. So, primula called keys of St. Peter or the Virgin Mary (inflorescence resembles a bunch of keys), Paschal candle (often the time of its flowering coincides with Easter). Different bells called St. Joseph's lily, star of Bethlehem, the crown of Mary, the glove Mary, Mary Mack called buttons, begonias - heart Jesus and the divine eye, curly clematis - hair, beard, Jesus or God, calendula (marigold) - Maria's fingers and salad all the saints. Compositions Mystics factor likening these to infinity.
symbolic value attributed to the flowers by association with different features - with the form, color, a consonance with the name of a flower, at the place of growth. All the white color represents purity and innocence, especially white roses and lilies, red flowers were a symbol of Christ's Passion (especially roses), the blood shed saints and martyrs. Aquilegia (columbine), whose petals are vaguely reminiscent of a dove, was considered symbol of the Holy Spirit, and its three-part leaves symbolically correlated with the Holy Trinity, as well as strawberry and daisy because of the shape of its leaves, and pansies - flowers. Flowers of all shades of blue, cyan, magenta - bluebells, cornflowers, violets, irises, forget-me - reminded of the heavenly blue. Forget-Me has its own name reminded of the need for reflection on the divine essence.
Not surprisingly, these same colors are most often can be seen in the friezes of the XV century Flemish prayer, especially those that were created by the masters of Bruges and Ghent. They are symbolically associated with religious scenes, placed in the center of the page. Violets, daisies, wild strawberry bushes flank the image of Christ Almighty, thus emphasizing that the greatness of his - In humility, as these modest flowers, growing quietly in the grass, meant precisely this Christian virtue. Careful illusionism with which they're written - with a cast across a gold background shadows, with drops of dew on the petals trembling, gave birth to a bold hypothesis that the color picture in a more later time to replace the real plants that put the pages Chasovnikov, who took with them aristocratic pilgrims. Flowers and insects, dried between the pages of books were precious reminders of the important points of pilgrimage. Their treasure.
Images of flowers, of course, occurs in the pictures, painting paradise - a country of plenty, blessed with a mild climate in which people and animals live in perfect harmony Surrounded by luxurious, abundant vegetation and from which Adam and Eve were expelled for disobedience. This garden nepodvlasten change of the seasons - it is always reigns summer and the flowers bloom all year round. It is in this Garden of Eden appears in the central picture of the famous Ghent altar "brothers Jan and Hubert van Eykov. In the scenes of the fall flowers at the feet of ancestors symbolize heaven, as well as herbs with flowers at the feet of saints on the wings of the many altars Netherlands Artists beginning of the XVI century.
the Italian Quattrocento artists flowers bloom even in the scenes of Christmas ("Christmas" Filippo Lippi), occurs, As is known, in the winter, expressing the joy of the world about the birth of baby Jesus and being a sign of the coming paradise for the salvation of mankind.
In the Middle century theologians believed that the earthly paradise was not washed away by the flood, but survived, and where some still exist. Copies of exotic flora, brought pioneers from the New World and India, initially perceived as a confirmation of those expectations, but by the end of the XVI century. it became clear that these hopes will not come true.
Whatever it was, during the Middle Ages was considered a real garden of earthly image of the heavenly paradise. The gardens were divided at monasteries, and later in the castles; Floriculture has become an important activity of monks. And in the church and in secular garden central place was given to plants, imbued with Christian symbolism. In the first place They were roses and lilies - the flowers, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Roses, flowering among the thorns, likened to the Virgin, who was born and lived among sinners.
German painters in the era of international Gothic painted Madonna and Child in the rose garden or in the gazebo, which are covered with roses. This small rose garden symbolized Paradise, which is found by humanity through the crucifixion sacrifice the God-man, born of the Virgin. The image of the "enclosed garden, symbolizing purity Mary Rose, like many other metaphors associated with Mary and Christ were taken from "Song of Songs of Solomon. Under the pen of the Holy Fathers this masterpiece love lyrics turned an expression of fervent religious feeling, and has been interpreted in terms of Christian symbolism.
no accident associated with roses and the name of the rosary in the European languages (rosary, le rosaire). According to the old medieval legend, Mary gathered herself rosebuds, to fly from the lips of a young monk when He again and again repeated the prayer in honor of the Virgin, and wove a garland of them, and which crowned his head.
writing German Dominican Monk 1470's. prescribed by the introduction into use of beads and the establishment of the worship of Saint Dominic, contributed to the popularity of the holiday beads. This rather rare in painting the story - the glorification of the holiday beads - paint a picture of A. Durer Madonna rosary, in which many little angels cherubs keep the pink wreath and crown them sitting on the throne of the Madonna.
In Italy, the spread was the iconography of "Santa Maria della Rosa (Madonna with the rose), and one of the most memorable images, marked by an aristocratic elegance and coldness inherent in the mannerist art of the XVI century., painted by Parmigianino.
In Christian art the rose symbolized as good deeds perpetrated by the Saints, and as such was a regular feature of some of them. Basket full of roses, holding the holy Casilda (F. Zurbaran. "Apotheosis of St.. Casilda) and Saint Dorothea (Lucas Cranach the Elder. Altar of St. Catherine), rose portrayed in the lap or in an apron at St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
Another major flower of the Virgin Mary had a white lily - a symbol of purity. Often all this as it appears in the scene of the Annunciation: she is holding, as if the angel Gabriel brings Mary, or it can stand in a vase. In the early произведениях Гавриил изображался держащим оливковую ветвь — распространенный в античности знак доброй вести, но позднее оливу заменила лилия (Ян ван Eyck. "Archangel Gabriel" - a fragment of the song "The Annunciation" on wings of the Ghent altar). As a symbol of purity and chastity lily has an attribute many of the saints and the figures in the pictures of Catherine of Siena, Saint Clara, Saint Anthony of Padua, Francis of Assisi, Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, Philip Neri. Stressing the chastity of St. Joseph (Mary's husband), the lily stands and its attributes.
third dedicated to Mary was a flower, iris, or Mechev lily. Its name comes from the leaf shape, resembling a sword, and it's associative knitted flower with the "seven sorrows of the Virgin, as the sword pierced her heart. In a scene of The Adoration of the Shepherds Portinari altar Hugo van der Gus irises in earthenware vase on the ground in the foreground make a sad note in the joyous event of Christmas, as hinted at the coming suffering of Mary.
addition to these basic attributes of the flower, the Virgin Mary generally devote a lot of colors. She seemed to be inherited the role of ancient Flora - Protecting colors. May - the month of spring bloom - was dedicated to Mary, and a custom in May to serve 31 floral service, one for each day, noting her some flowers.
In scenes associated with the Virgin Mary - in the Annunciation and Nativity, - And the first flowers appear. They combine core dedicated to her flowers in a symbolic bouquet of virtues of the Virgin Mary. " Master of the Annunciation Exa has written a bunch of red roses sacrifice virginity lily and iris suffering at the forefront of the altar "Annunciation." From the bouquet - details Although mnogoznachaschey in figure compositions, to the bouquet - the subject of a separate image remained one step, and it did the Dutch artist Memling, wrote the first floral still life on the back of the male portrait in a small triptych, where the central door with an image of Mary with Child framed portraits of the four donators (1490). In the niche on the Persian rug covering the table (or rather the altar), Memling painted earthenware bowl bearing the monogram of Christ (HIS) with a bouquet of lilies, iris, and a bell. In the closed form on the half before the worshipers are brought not a religious figure, as usual, but her character, expressed The exquisite floral still life. Nisha is a sign of sacred space, a vase, as indicated by the monogram, symbolizes Christ, who is a "vessel eternal life, purity (Lily) and suffering (Iris) defeated death (bell-aquilegia was a symbol of victory of life over death).
This is one of the most striking manifestations of the hidden symbolism in the Netherlands painting XV. that has reached the highest perfection in the incarnation of the sacred in the religious sense picture with just selected and extremely believable transferred items around the world.
parallel with religious symbols In the Middle Ages in European art continued to evolve, though not so clearly and intensely secular symbolism of flowers. In minnesingers poetry (in translation from German literally: the singers love) Mary Rose Garden of Eden into a garden of love, where they sang, danced and wove wreaths and exchanged them as a token of tender feelings love the ladies and gentlemen. A little later these Frivolous gardens of love embodied in the French tapestries and miniatures of the manuscripts of the XV century., Performed at court of the Burgundian dukes - the most opulent and refined, aristocratic courts of Europe. Gained extraordinary popularity, "A Novel of the Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris, in which the author has made flowers envoys of the senses and returned the value of the rose symbol of sensual love. Number of roses used for festivities and decorations rooms, approached during the late Roman Empire.
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