Legends and Lore of the Rose

1

T h e Ro se

Queen

of

R

F l ow e r s oses have long held the power to enchant and inspire with their delicate beauty and intoxicating fragrance. The earliest known

rendering of a rose is more than 3,500 years old. It was painted on a palace wall on the Greek island of Crete. Other early images appear on coins from Rhodes, another Greek island whose very name means rose.

There, roses bloomed in such profusion that sailors could smell their sweet perfume before they even sighted land. Greek poets of old sang praises to the rose as “perfume of the gods” and “queen of flowers.”

Blue Bird Fresco, earliest rendering of a rose, Palace of Minos, Crete, c. 1550 B.C. Coins from Rhodes, 408-43 B.C.

Classic Blossom

of

L ov e

I

and

B e au t y

n Greek and Roman mythology, the rose symbolized youth,

vitality, love, beauty and fruitfulness. It was the flower of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, known to the Romans as Venus.

One story says that white roses sprang from the frothy waves as she was born from the sea. Red roses Venus and Adonis, Jusepe de Ribera, Spain, 1637.

blossomed from her blood when she

scratched her foot while rushing to her mortally wounded lover, Adonis. Another version attributes red roses to the mingling of her tears with his blood.

2

Th e R o s e

R o m a n E x t r ava g a n c e

T

he Romans took the Greek fondness for roses to new heights.

Each year, they celebrated a festival called the Rosalia.

Cities were festooned with rose garlands, streets were carpeted with rose petals, and public fountains spewed rose water. The emperor Nero, who was notorious for his extravagance, spent the equivalent of $400,000 on roses for a single banquet! He had a special ceiling made so rose petals could flutter down on his guests as they dined. Another decadent young emperor, Heliogabalus, let loose such a torrent of rose petals on his guests that many suffocated under the fragrant flood.

Roman wall painting, detail, Pompeii, Italy, before 79 A.D.

The Roses of Heliogabalus, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, England, 1888.

3

T h e Rose

M e d i e va l M e d i c i n e

E

arly Christians scorned the rose because of its association with paganism and decadence. Through-

out much of the Middle Ages in Europe, only monks grew them as medicinal plants. They prescribed compounds and tinctures made from roses to ease stomachaches, to stop diarrhea and vomiting, and to heal piles. These practical applications relied heavily on the botanical and medical knowledge of the 1st-century Greek physician Dioscorides, in his book De Materia Medica.

Rose from Codex Vindobonensis, a copy of De Materia Medica

by Dioscorides, 512 A.D.

C h r i s t i a n A cc e p ta n c e

Raising of the Cross, German book illustration, early 16th century.

E

ventually, roses and other flowers found a place in Christian worship. Rosary beads,

for example, originated from rose buds strung together on a thread. The rose also became a symbol of the holy love of God. Its thorns were a reminder of Christ’s sacrificial crown, and its red petals of his wounds upon the cross. The Virgin Mary was known as the “Rose of Heaven” and a “Rose without Thorns.” The white rose signified her purity, while the red symbolized her charity and compassion.

4

Madonna and Child, Domenico Veneziano, Italy, c. 1450.

Th e R o s e

Romance

I

in

Bloom

n Europe beginning in the 12th century, gallant knights and courtly troubadours seized upon the rose as a symbol of romantic love.

Lovers twined roses into floral crowns as tokens of affection. Rose petals were sprinkled in communal baths and strewn on floors at weddings and in bridal chambers. A 13th century romantic French poem, Roman de la Rose, expressed “the whole art of love” for the time. In it, a young man dreamt of his beloved as a rose that he passionately yearned to pluck.

Illustration from Roman de la Rose, France, 1280.

Illustration from Tacuinum sanitatis, Italy, late 14th century.

S e n s ua l

T

and

Sacred Persian Rose

he Persians grew roses in their legendary pleasure gardens long before the ancient Greeks or Romans did. They gave the world

the hundred-petalled rose, renowned throughout Western antiquity, and distilled its essential oil or attar of roses for perfumes and flavoring. Roses were likened to the blossoming of young love, and they also held religious significance. One story tells how roses sprang from sweat of the prophet Mohammed’s brow as he ascended into heaven. A popular image in Persian poetry and art was a nightingale, desperately in love with a rose. This was a metaphor for the soul’s yearning for union with God.

The Rose and the Nightingale, detail, Persian laquerwork, Nasrallah al-Husayni al-Imami, 1865.

The legendary lovers Khusraw and Shirin, Persian manuscript, 1410-1411.

5

T h e Rose

B e au t y

I

of

India

n India, the rose is also highly esteemed. One Mughal legend tells how the emperor’s bride discovered a new method for

extracting the prized attar of roses. As the newlyweds rowed across a lake strewn with rose petals, the sultry tropical sun released fragrant oil from them, which could be skimmed from the water’s surface. Hindu tales also feature the rose. In a contest of flowers between two gods, Brahma offered the lotus, while Vishnu offered a single white rose. Vishnu won this test of beauty and fragrance. Later, he formed his bride, Lakshmi, from more than a thousand rose petals, making the rose a symbol of Indian beauty.

Courtesan with morror putting a rose in her hair from Kalighat, Indian Popular Painting 1800–1930 1875.

Chinese Ancestors

A

lthough the Chinese have grown roses for at least 2,500 years,

this flower was never as popular in the art or folklore of China as peonies, lotuses, or chrysanthemums. Instead, their greatest contribution is to horticultural history. They are the parents Rose and Butterfly, from The Painter’s Manual of the Garden of the Mustard Seed, China, 1792.

of some of our best-loved modern roses. From the late 1700s onward, European plant explorers like Robert Fortune and Ernest “Chinese” Wilson brought roses back from Asia to be used in breeding. These plants included climbing roses, yellow-flowered roses, and roses that bloomed repeatedly throughout the season.

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Th e R o s e

M e l a n c h o ly S wa n S o n g

P

oets throughout the ages and in different cultures have compared the ephemeral beauty of the rose in perfect bloom

with a person’s fleeting life. Omar Khayyam, the 11th century Persian poet, expressed it this way: In the company of a cypress-form fresher than a gathering of roses, Don’t lose your grasp on the wine jug or the skirt of the rose, Till the moment when the wind of death untimely Rips open the mantle of our life, like that of a rose.

T

he English Poet Robert Herrick voiced the same poignant notion in the 17th century: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may Old time is still a flying: And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.

Illustration from The Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyam, English edition, 1859.

Blue Moon Rose, Irving Penn, USA, 1970

7

Credits

Art Treasures for America- An Anthology of Paintings and Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1961.

Madonna and Child

Ash, Russell. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990.

The Roses of Heliogabalus

Evans, Sir Arthur. The Palace of Minos at Knossos. New York: Biblo and Tanneni, 1964.

Blue Bird Fresco

Ferrier, R.W., ed. The Arts of Persia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989.

The Rose and the Nightingale

Ferrini, Bruce. Medieval and Renaissance Miniature Paintings. Akron, Ohio: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, 1995.

Raising of the Cross

Il Gardino Dipinto nella Casa del Bracciale D’Oro a Pompei. Firenze: Universitá Internazionale dell”Arte, 1991.

Roman wall painting

Gordon, Leslie. Green Magic–Flowers, Plants and Herbs in Lore and Legend. New York: A Studio Book, The Viking Press, 1977.

Illustration from The Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyam

Hejzlar, Dr. Josef. Early Chinese Graphics. London: Octupus Books, 1973.

Rose and Butterfly

Khanna, Balraj. Kalighat Indian Popular Painting 1800-1930. Boston: Shambhala Redston Editions, 1993.

Courtesan with mirror putting a rose in her hair

King, Ronald. Botanical Illustration. London: Ash & Grant, 1978.

Rose from Codex Vindobonensis

Krüssman, Gerd. The Complete Book of Roses. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1981.

Coins from Rhodes

List, Claudia an Blum, Wilhelm. Buchkunst des Mittelalters-ein Illustriertes Handbuch. Stuttgart, Zürick: Belser Verlag, 1994.

Illustration from Roman de la Rose

Napoli, Electa. Jusepe de Ribera–1591-1652. Slaerno: Incisivo, 1992.

Venus and Adonis

Sudell, Helen, ed. The Romance of Roses–An Anthology in Verse and Prose. London, New York, Sydney, Bath: Lorenz Books, 1997.

Yellow and Pink Roses, cover

Telesko, Werner. The Wisdom of Nature. Munich, London, New York: Prestel, 2001 Illustration from Tacuinum sanitis

Titley, Norah M. Plants and Gardens in Persian, Mughal and Turkish Art. London: The Britsh Library, 1979.

The legendary lovers Khusraw and Shirin

Woldbye, Vibeke, ed. Flowers into Art–Floral Motifs in European Painting and Decorative Arts. The Hague: SDU Publishers, 1991.

Blue Moon Rose

This exhibit was made possible by funding from Gale and Ira Drukier and by the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust.