Flora Illustrata is much more than a straight history of flower painting

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Bombarded with images of plants, as we are now, it is difficult to imagine a time when there weren't any. It seems odd that it took so long for a picture to be attached to a description of a plant, and so join one way of absorbing information with another. From early times, plants had been used in decorative schemes: myrtle and roses on the walls of villas at Pompeii and Herculaneum, saffron crocus, iris, Madonna lilies on frescoes at Knossos.










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