Pansy SOLD

Pansy

About This Painting:

The history of the pansy is linked forever to the viola, its ancestor. viola is a large genus containing 500 species according to Hortus Third. Violas were familiar to people living in Greece in the 4th century B.C. The center of origin for violas was continental Europe. The hardy but delicate viola was cultivated by the Greeks for herbal medicinal use and much later inspired William Shakespeare to write of romance.
Some time after the 4th century B.C. in Europe, an acute observer noticed a plant similar to a viola but growing in open areas with more sunlight. This plant thrived in alpine meadows and on rocky ledges. Someone named this plant a wild pansy. Possibly, it was a person living in France who noticed this plant because the word pansy is traced back to the French word pensee, meaning thought or remembrance.
Now known as Viola tricolor, this early wild pansy had two clear differences from the viola. The plant grew from the ground on one main stem and branched above ground. Viola plants branch below ground with many plants sharing the same root system. The wild pansy bloom was larger and more round than violas.
Violas and wild pansies were cultivated in Europe by many gardeners. The origin of the plants we now call pansy began in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England. In the early 1800's an inquisitive Lord Gambier and his gardener William Thompson began crossing various Viola species. Records tell us crosses were made among V. tricolor, V. Lutea and a blue flowered species possibly of Russian origin, V. altacia. These breeders selected plants for unusual colors, color combinations and increasing flower size. The initial results were similar to the V. tricolor. History credits the gardener, William Thompson, with the discovery of a cross that began the new species V. x Wittrockiana. He found a bloom that no longer had lines of dark color on the flower but huge blocks of color on the lower petals called the "face." Discovered in 1839 and named "Medora," this pansy and its progeny became popular with gardeners and breeders throughout Europe.
By 1850 many new strains of pansies were available to Europeans. Breeding occurred in England, Scotland and Switzerland. Hybridization was used to breed more plant vigor and flowers that had no dark blocks or lines. These clear pansies without a face were bred about the turn of the 20th century. Credit is given to a Scottish grower, Dr. Charles Stewart, for discovering the pansy with clear colors, no face.
Across the Atlantic, North American gardeners welcomed this newly bred flower. The pansy gained popularity rapidly. In an 1888 mail-order catalog, the pansy is described as "The most popular of all flowers grown from seed--our sales exceeding one hundred thousand packets a year." That's a lot of pansy seed, even in today's market.
In the last 50 years much of the innovative pansy breeding has been in Germany, the United States and Japan. New pansy colors such as shades of pink, rose or orange and unusual bicolor designs have expanded the variety of pansies available to gardeners in North America. The diversity of pansies will flourish as pansy popularity continues to grow.

Pansy done in oil on 10x10x1 1/2 gallery wrapped stretched canvas with painted sides and the back is wired.2/13/08

Media: oil
Size: 10 in X 10 in (25.4 cm X 25.4 cm)
Price: $100 USD

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