From reference specimen to verisimilitude: the Blaschkas' penchant for botanical accuracy

Abstract

The Glass Flowers Collection, commissioned from Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, was created in 1886 through 1936 to illustrate the plant kingdom for the Botanical Museum at Harvard University. The models are both examples of superb flameworking, and represent botanical sciences in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Blaschkas' reference materials and the artistic license they sometimes incorporated are discussed. Emphasis is given to the early lifecycle series (1889, 1893) and the last models that depict blight on temperate fruits (1929, 1932, 1936).

Keywords:

• Blaschka
• Glass Flowers
• botanical models
• Harvard University

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Stuart Lindsay, Laura Lukas, Robbin Moran, Henri Reiling, Scott Fulton, Kathy Horton, the staff at the Botany Libraries Harvard University Herbaria, and the Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow Research Library, Corning Museum of Glass.