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| Julius |
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| Friedrich |
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| Ferdinand |
In the long winter of 1816, the year without even a summer, there were food riots in the UK and famines in China and red snow falling in Italy, following on an ungenial, incessant rainfall that forced Mary Shelley and her friends to stay inside and write scary stories (Frankenstein being surely an unanticipated consequence of climatic variation).
And Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and his friends, the brothers Ferdinand and Friedrich Olivier, passed their time that long long winter in what must be the gentlest competition I've ever known: vying with each other to make precise drawings of dried leaves.
Sources:
I found Julius' leaves at the blog illustrationart. The other images are sourced from various places around the web; it isn't clear where these drawings make their home. If you have additional information, get in touch.
When I first found this lovely blog I knew it was simply a matter of time until I'd be overwhelmed by the desire to snatch up some of the gorgeousness to share with my visitors.
Thes pictures are exquisite, and your description of their origin charming.
Would it be annoying if I were to copy one of the images, and maybe some of your explanation, and reproduce them with attribution & link (I already have a link to your site on my home page: http://secretgardening.wordpress.com/)?
Thank you for collecting this wonderful information.
Cassandra
Interesting and amazing! Love your insightful posts, keep them coming!
One wonders what leaves they were. It's pretty difficult to tell from their wizened condition.
secretgardener: of course. reproduction with attribution is fine.
Having studied Frankenstein's monster for my degree it would have been interesting to know that these were the climatic conditions at the time but there was no mention of it. I find this fascinating especially in the context of the climate change debates that rage now.
As a burgeoning botanical artist I can say that dry leaves are not easy to draw
With some Googling, I found that the top two images (I love them!)are in the National Gallery of Art collection: http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/timage_f?object=139267&image=29836&c=
http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/timage_f?object=139279&image=31962&c=
Very interesting blog. I'm glad I found it.
Dear fascinating,learned Arcady,
I just lucked upon a mention of Olive Percival, hope I can find out EVERYTHING about her children's design, and wondered whether you had come across her too.
Of course you're very likely to have.
Admirer & follower,
Cassandra (Secret Gardener)
Hi Secret Gardener,
I didn't know about Olive Percival...thanks! I've just ordered her book and am looking forward to it...
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