Art and Nature

A life and a plant

Sep 23, 2022

Quote of the week

“Art is anything you can get away with.” – Andy Warhol

Hello,

Hope your week has been a good. My week was very good because my son Hannes was home for a visit. Just for a week, but still nice. It gave us time to socialise and fix a few things around his flat. On Wednesday he left again for a very exciting event. He is to participate in the qualifications for the World Championship in Padel in Derby in England, playing for the Austrian National Team. He headed off to Vienna for a couple of days training before flying to the UK in the end of the month. We are very proud.

A story about Ida Ilsted

In his book Kvinna sedd bakifrån (Woman Seen From Behind, my translation) Jesper Wung-Sung has written a historical fiction about Ida Ilsted, wife of Danish painter Wilhelm Hammershøi. Wung-Sung’s writing is like Hammershøi’s painting; simplistic and stripped down to the basic minimalistic surrounding, which fits very well into the life of Ida.

Ida meets Wilhelm through her artist brother Peter. They become good friends and Ida is quite surprised when Wilhelm proposes to her. Ida’s life at home is troublesome with a mentally unstable mother who has not much love for her daughter, and cannot imagine why anybody would like to marry her. Wilhelm comes from an upper class home and is worshipped by his mother, who thinks nobody good enough for her son. It does not seem like a good start for their marriage.

Wilhelm is a very secluded person, only happy when he is painting. Ida is also a secluded person although a bit more social than her husband. She is very supportive of his art although not knowing anything about it, which is something that troubles her through her life. A sense of shortcomings when it comes to the art world. They travel a lot, although, unlike other artists who are inspired by the light and sights of Italy and France, Wilhelm looks for dark, small interior places to paint. The various experiences help him develop into the interior and portrait painter he is famous for. And above all, he paints Ida.

Ida has to adapt to the work of her husband. She has obviously not put a mark in life, except for being the model of many of Wilhelm’s works. When I read a historical fiction I like to check out real life events. She is as anonymous in real life as she is in the paintings. The only mentioning of her is through her husband, as a model in his paintings.

Ida’s story is probably the story of many wives of famous men, who support and work silently and quietly in the background. Her story grippes you, even if it is more out of sadness than out of joy. I particularly liked the author’s style in visualising Ida’s life as a reflection of Wilhelm’s paintings. If there is one comfort in all this, it is that they both loved and needed each other. At least according to the author.

Lavender

I have an interesting book called Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws. It tells the story of how plants spread around the world and their uses; edible, medicinal, trading goods and technical. I read a chapter from time to time when I have breakfast, and this week I came upon Lavandula anguvstifolia, Lavender. Is it not a wonderful plant? Beautiful to look at, giving out a wonderful aroma. It is not edible but used for medicin, trading and technical matters.

It is famous for its eternal oils which is persistent in all parts except the roots. The flowers attract pollinating insects, and bees collecting nectar in lavender produce a special, strongly scented honey. Its medicinal history goes way back to the old cultures around the Mediterranean. It was strewn on floors to protect from vermin. Hildegard of Bingen noted already in the 12th century that lavender was an effective cure against fleece and lice. Dioscorides (ca 40-90 A.D.), a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist and author of De materia medica, wrote about their healing abilities, especially for burns and wounds. It was used frequently from the Roman times to World War I.

It came to play an even more prominent role in the world of perfumes. An Italian perfumer Giovanni Maria Farina, living in Cologne, created, in 1709, a mixture with lavender that he named after his home town, Eau de Cologne. According to legend four grave robbers were arrested after having plundered a corpse during a plague outbreak in Marseille. It turned out they had used a mixture of lavender as a protection against the plague. The decoction, which also contained, rosemary, clove and distilled vinegar was called “The Four Thief’s Vinegar”. The Farina family continued to sell their much copied Eau de Cologne in their shop with number 4711, which was also a name of one of their perfumes. I think this perfume existed until recently, or maybe still exists?

The Content Reader's Newsletter

Discussion about this post