Arcadópolis
Gum Flowers and Love
Louisa Anne Meredith, c. 1891
What you see
A gum branch with reddish stems arches across the page, hung with long sickle-shaped leaves. Round cream flowers open along it like tassels, beside grey seed capsules. On the left, a plant with small purple clusters twines around the stems. A red and black moth flies at the top, and a yellow and black insect hovers on the right.
The greyish greens of the leaves and the cream of the flowers rest on a background of very soft blues, where the sea and a distant shore appear. Some leaves have chewed edges and holes. Don’t miss the rocks at the water’s edge behind the plant and the caption “Plate 5” at the top.
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
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