263 'A BASKET OF FLOWERS'
By Hans Looschen (1859-1923)

Look at this picture for a minute or so. You are seeing a simple basket of Old Roses painted with such feeling over a hundred years ago. These roses are heavily scented. If you take an imaginary deep breath, you will smell the rich and powerful fragrance of this display wafting from the last century. It may invoke in you a vision of an old summer room in a Victorian country house. Not half an hour ago, our unseen lady had arrived heavily laden with fresh-cut flowers from the garden outside, and produced this arrangement for the house. Indeed such an abundance could only come from a long established and probably large garden, dripping with floral cascades. The room would be cool and imbued with intoxicating fragrance.

In this picture we have a selection of identifiable roses - all popular during Victorian times. They contain more interest than just appearance alone. The pale flowers in the centre of the display are "ROSA CENTIFOLIA", otherwise known as the "Roses with a Hundred Leaves" or "The Providence Rose". This was first recorded prior to 1600. The deep pink flowers on the left are "ROSA BULLATA" or "The Lettuce-leaf Rose" and bred as a curiosity in 1801. The pink Roses at the Top right are "ROSA HERMOSA" bred by Marsheseau in 1840, and the yellow roses below are "KRONPRIZESSIN VIKTORIA". This was a "Sport" - a happy chance from the rose "SOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON", - a repeat-flowering bourbon. This was introduced into France by a German called Spath in 1887 and was one of the first ever roses to bear this shade of colour. At the very top is another pale rose identified as "COMTESSE DE MURANAIS", a damask rose bred by Georges Vibert in 1843.

By far the most interesting is the little dark-red rose hiding in the shadows at the top left. This is a Gallica called "ROSA GALLICA OFFICINALIS", also known as "The Apothecaries Rose" as it was mainly grown for its medicinal properties. But importantly it was chosen as a symbol of the Royal House of Lancaster.
This "Red Rose of Lancaster" has a most fascinating history. - In the thirteenth century, Thibault de Chansonnier, the French King of Navarre was returning from one of the Crusades when he spotted this rose growing wild in the village of Provins, south east of Paris. Of all the bounty he brought back from the holy wars he was more proud of this simple flower found in his own native land. In 1260 he wrote a poem about it to his Queen and entitled it "Le Roman de la Rose".

So in this romantic picture we can see not just the beauty of the roses themselves, but reflect on their exciting history with further delight. We will just have to imagine the magic of their fragrances.

Hans Looschen was a German genre painter who was born and died in Berlin. He also painted portraits and flower studies and exhibited works from 1888.