The botany of friendship and love

Abstract

This article examines the interrelation of objects and emotion in a bourgeois Swedish family influenced by the 18th-century concept of sensibility – the Gjörwells. Headed by noted publicist Carl Christoffer Gjörwell (1731–1811), this family served as the centre of a large circle of friends in late 18th-century Stockholm. One of the unifying aspects of this group was an expressly emotional relationship to the aesthetics of natural scenery. In this setting, pressed flowers became important emotional tokens frequently exchanged in letters between family members, friends and couples. Using Monique Scheer’s concept of emotion as a form of practice, this article examines how flowers were used in the practices of communicating emotion, remembering loved ones and emotionally significant events as well as experiencing pleasant emotions. Furthermore, this article demonstrates how flowers as objects facilitated the expression of intimacy and the upholding of social ties within this group, paying special attention to the gendered aspects of these practices. By focusing on the intersection of emotion and objects, this article contributes to the growing research on emotion and material culture.

Keywords:

• history of emotions
• material culture
• flowers
• 18^th century
• Gjörwell
• Sweden

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the reviewers and editors of SJH for their helpful comments. A special thank you is directed toward Jacqueline Van Gent and Raisa Maria Toivo for their comments and efforts in organizing this special issue.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Trentmann, ‘Materiality in the Future of History’; Biess, ‘History of Emotions’.

2 Holloway, Romantic Love in Words and Objects, 53.

3 Eger, ‘Paper Trails and Eloquent Objects’, 112. See also 113, 120, 137.

4 Styles, Threads of Feeling, 70.

5 Millmore, Love Tokens, 264.

6 Scheer, ‘Are Emotions a Kind of Practice’, 193.

7 Ibid., 209.

8 For a biography of Gjörwell, see Lindholm’s entry in Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon.

9 Schück and Warburg, Illustrerad svensk litteraturhistoria, 92; Christensson, ‘Kärlek eller vänskap?’, 268; Berefelt, Svensk landskapskonst, 148.

10 Barker-Benfield, The Culture of Sensibility; Todd, Sensibility.

11 Liliequist, ‘Manlighet och socialitet’.

12 Halperin, ‘How to Do the History of Male Homosexuality’; Haggerty, ‘Male Love and Friendship in the Eighteenth Century’; Brodie and Cain, ‘Class, Sex and Friendship’.

13 Hansen, ‘Den gråtande mannen’.

14 Lindholm, ‘Carl Christoffer Gjörwell’, 146; Högnäs, ‘Lidelsefull vänskap och förnuftig kärlek’, 21; Schück and Warburg, Illustrerad svensk litteraturhistoria, 92.

15 Johannisson, ‘Det sköna i det vilda’.

16 ibid.

17 Vincent-Buffault, The History of Tears, 46, 53.

18 Scheer, ‘Are Emotions a Kind of Practice’, 214.

19 Holloway, Romantic Love in Words and Objects, 265.

20 GEL to JNL, 2/2 1797, EpG 12:3.

21 GEL to JNL, 6/4 1797, EpG 12:3.

22 GEL to JNL, 20/4 1797, EpG 12:3.

23 GEL to CCG, 26/4 1798, EpG 12:3.

24 GEL to JNL, 11/33 1799, EpG 12:4.

25 CCG to BEG, 19/9 1796, EpG 12:2.

26 Holloway, Romantic Love in Words and Objects, 265.

27 CCG to GEL, 10/5 1793, EpG 12:1.

28 GEL to CCG jr, 13/12 1795, EpG 12:7.

29 Found next to CCG to GEL, 10/8 1794, EpG 12:2.

30 See note above. For more examples of the family kissing flowers see CCG to GEL, 25/7 1791, EpG 12:1; CCG to GEL & JNL, 18/9 1791, 12:1; GEL to CCG jr, 31/7 1796, EpG 12:2; CCG to GEL, 11/7 1797, EpG 12:3; GEL to CCG, 11/7 1797, EpG 12:3; CCG to GEL, 3/4 1798, EpG 12:3.

31 JNL to GEL, 30/6 1797, EpG 12:3.

32 JNL & GEL to CCG, 22/3 1792, EpG 12:1; CCG to GEL, 26/3 1792, EpG:1; CCG to GEL & JNL, 28/7 1793, EpG 12:1; BEG to JCL, 18/6 1792, EpG 12:7.

33 CCG to Conrad Arvid Johan Mandorff, 27/12 1792, EpG 12:1.

34 CCG to GEL, 25/9 1791, 12:1.

35 Jonas Carl Linnerhielm to GEL, 1/6 1785, EpG 12:7.

36 CCG to GEL, 19/9 1800, EpG 12:4.

37 Scheer, ‘Are Emotions a Kind of Practice’, 209.

38 ibid.

39 CCG to GEL, 7/11 1806, EpG 12:5.

40 Gessner, Idyls, 11–12, 74, 83–4. For more on Gessner see Hibberd, Salomon Gessner.

41 Seaton, The Language of Flowers, 42–3.

42 CCG to GEL, 3/4 1798, EpG 12:3.

43 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Academic Edition, online version. Search word: ‘Herbarium’. Accessed 30/10 10.16, http://global.britannica.com.proxy.ub.umu.se/EBchecked/topic/262678/herbarium.

44 Cook, ‘Botanical Exchanges’, 149.

45 Ibid., 150.

46 CCG to GEL, 19/5 1809, EpG 12:6.

47 CCG to GEL & JNL, 18/9 1791, EpG 12:1.

48 Goody, The Culture of Flowers, 232. See also Seaton, The Language of Flowers, 36–7, 65, 69.

49 Goody, The Culture of Flowers, 234.

50 Seaton, The Language of Flowers, 17.

51 CCG to Johan Georg Forssgren, 15/4 1796, EpG 12:2; CCG, Note to flowers, 1797, EpG 12:2; CCG to CCG jr, 3/7 1795, EpG 12:2.

52 CCG to Lars Johan Dalman, 15/6 1794, EpG 12:2. For more examples of a symbolic interpretation of flowers see CCG to GEL, 2/6 1793, second appendix, EpG 12:1; CCG, Note to flowers, 1797, EpG 12:2.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ina Lindblom

Ina Lindblom is a postgraduate student of history at the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Umeå University. She is currently working on her PhD dissertation, which focuses on the emotional practices of the Gjörwell family and circle of friends, especially regarding aspects of gender and power.