Arcadópolis
Cardinal Flower and Blue Lobelia
Louisa Anne Meredith, 1836
What you see
A thick reddish stem rises through the center, loaded with red flowers that spread sideways like small wings. Buds remain at the top, and lower down a withering flower turns pink and maroon. Around it, slender stems of blue lobelia curve back and forth, dotted with five-petalled flowers. A broad leaf closes the composition at the bottom.
The blazing red of the cardinal flower plays against the light blue of the small blossoms, and both stand out on the white paper. The blue stems are so thin they look like pen strokes. Seek out the white and yellow center of each little blue flower and the long pale stamens reaching out of the red ones.
About Louisa Anne Meredith
Louisa Anne Meredith was born in Birmingham and, before she married, had already published in England, under her maiden name, Twamley, books of poems and flowers illustrated by herself. In 1839 she married and emigrated to Australia, and from 1840 she lived in Tasmania. A writer, naturalist and illustrator, she painted the flowers, birds and insects of the Tasmanian bush in great detail, and published her plates in books such as “Some of My Bush Friends in Tasmania”. She was also a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
More by Louisa Anne Meredith
The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.