Vintage Art Appreciation: Lilies by Frederick Carl Frieseke

I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was human,
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die human,
To soar with angels blessed above.
And when I sacrifice my angel soul
I shall become what no mind ever conceived.
As a human, I will die once more,
Reborn, I will with the angels soar.
And when I let my angel body go,
I shall be more than mortal mind can know.
― Rumi
Artwork is titled “Lilies” and was painted c1911 by Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874–1939). Originally found on Wikimedia. Digitally enhanced version of the painting as a 7” x 5” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Printable Vintage Art: Botanical Illustration of Lilium auratum (Golden-Rayed Lily)

Lilium auratum, 1862
by Louis van Houtte (1810–1876)
Lilium auratum (山百合, yamayuri, literally “mountain lily”) is one of the true lilies. It is native to Japan and is sometimes called the golden-rayed lily or the goldband lily.

The Englishman who was the earliest collector of lily bulbs in Japan was arguably young John Gould Veitch of Veitch Nurseries, and in 1862 he sent to England the golden rayed lily, L. auratum, which became touted as the “aristocrat of lilies”. It was allegedly in 1867 that a man named John Joshua Jarmain operating from Yokohama became the first commercial exporter of Japanese lilies, though the species of lily is not clarified. The mint exporter Samuel Cocking of Yokohama also exported lilies from the early 1800s, presumably of the L. auratum species, which is the local prefectural flower [ja] of Kanagawa Prefecture. Isaac Bunting, another purveyor of plants offered L. auratum for sale, as seen in his 1885 catalog. [Source: Wikipedia.]

You can download the antique botanical illustration above as a high-res 6” x 9” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Public domain, colours digitally enhanced.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Playing with Butterflies by Alois Hans Schram

Playing with Butterflies, 1895
by Alois Hans Schram (1864–1919)
She liked being reminded of butterflies. She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of the butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother had comforted her and told her not to be sad for the butterflies, that just because their lives were short didn't mean they were tragic. Watching them flying in the warm sun among the daisies in their garden, her mother had said to her, see, they have a beautiful life. Alice liked remembering that.
― Lisa Genova, Still Alice

But on paper, things can live forever.
On paper, a butterfly never dies.
― Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming

Vintage painting oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally altered version can be downloaded as an 8” x 12” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.