Spring 1601-1650 Garden in Background

 

Anonymous Artist - Spring with Flowers & a Garden in the Background. Madrid, Museo del Prado. 1601-1650  

Spring & "springtime" refer to the ecological, environmental season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection & regrowth.

17C Allegory of Spring at a Market Scene

Jean-Baptiste de Saive II (Flemish artist, 1597-1642) An Allegory of Spring at a Market Scene with a Boy offering Strawberries to Girl surrounded by Flowers

18C Spring Allegory from the Italian School

18C Spring Allegory from the Italian School

Flora in Roman mythology, was goddess of spring-time & flowers.

Flora holding a wreath of flowers by Jean Leblond 1605-1666

Flora holding a wreath of flowers by Jean Leblond 1605-1666 

17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring

18C Rosalba Carriera (Italian artist, 1675-1757) The Goddess Flora

Flora in Roman mythology, was goddess of spring-time & flowers, later identified with the Greek Chloris. Her festival at Rome, the Floralia, instituted 238 B.C. by order of the Sibylline books & at first held irregularly, became annual after 173. It lasted 6 days (April 28-May 3), the 1st day being the anniversary of the foundation of her temple. 

The Floralia was a public festival to honor the goodwill of the goddess Flora. Created in the 6th century BC by the Romans, it took place in spring  & lasted 6 days, & consisted of games & theatrical performances. Chariot races & circus games took place & everywhere were the symbols of Flora. It was traditional to have goats & hares scampering about the landscape where flowers of lupines, beans, & vetch were scattered about. The celebrating Romans held bouquets of flowers & wore wreaths of flowers around their necks or in their hair. In art Flora was represented as a beautiful maiden, bedecked with flowers. The term “flora” became used in botany collectively for the plant-growth of an area.

See Primary Sources:

Ovid, Fasti V. 193-212

Macrobius, Saturnalia I.10.11-14

Lactantius, Divinae institutions I.20.6-10

Tacitus, Annals, ii. 49

and

Ovid, Fasti, Book 4; T.P. Wiseman, The Myths of Rome (University of Exeter Press, 2004).

Robert Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome (Routledge, 2001; originally published in French 1998)

H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981)

William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908)

Le Printemps by Grégoire Huret (French, 1606-1670)

 

Le Printemps by Grégoire Huret (French, 1606-1670) published by Pierre Mariette

17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring

Pierre Gobert (1662-1744)  - Retrato de Noiva as The Goddess Flora

Flora in Roman mythology, was goddess of spring-time & flowers, later identified with the Greek Chloris. Her festival at Rome, the Floralia, instituted 238 B.C. by order of the Sibylline books & at first held irregularly, became annual after 173. It lasted 6 days (April 28-May 3), the 1st day being the anniversary of the foundation of her temple. 

The Floralia was a public festival to honor the goodwill of the goddess Flora. Created in the 6th century BC by the Romans, it took place in spring  & lasted 6 days, & consisted of games & theatrical performances. Chariot races & circus games took place & everywhere were the symbols of Flora. It was traditional to have goats & hares scampering about the landscape where flowers of lupines, beans, & vetch were scattered about. The celebrating Romans held bouquets of flowers & wore wreaths of flowers around their necks or in their hair. In art Flora was represented as a beautiful maiden, bedecked with flowers. The term “flora” became used in botany collectively for the plant-growth of an area.

See Primary Sources:

Ovid, Fasti V. 193-212

Macrobius, Saturnalia I.10.11-14

Lactantius, Divinae institutions I.20.6-10

Tacitus, Annals, ii. 49

and

Ovid, Fasti, Book 4; T.P. Wiseman, The Myths of Rome (University of Exeter Press, 2004).

Robert Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome (Routledge, 2001; originally published in French 1998)

H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981)

William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908)