Merete Sanderhoff

Sharing is Caring - Opennes and sharing in the cultural heritage sector Merete Sanderhoff 1. udgave

This is not simply yet another coffee table book of pretty flowers; it is also a rich, varied, and firmly research-based exploration of flowers in art and the world views they reflect. 
In the mid-17th century the German artist Hans Simon Holzbecker was commissioned to depict the plants from the splendid gardens of Gottorf Castle. He painted its many flowers onto parchment with great skill and care, and his hundreds of pictures were later bound in four large volumes known collectively as the Gottorfer Codex. In addition to this album, a so-called florilegium, Holzbecker also painted the one-volume Green Florilegium. 
Taking their point of departure in these florilegia – and in the museum’s rich collections of flower paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries – the SMK art historians present and describe the background behind the period’s keen interest in flowers in art.    
Prior to the publication of this book the museum’s staff of conservators has restored the florilegia and paintings, allowing us to appreciate their full splendor and wealth of detail here. At the same time botanists from the University of Copenhagen have carried out extensive research to identify the plants depicted in e.g. the florilegia. 
The book also contains an article about Gottorf Castle and a contemporary look at flowers as phenomenon.