Violets in Bloom

  

 ~ The Song of the Dog-Violet Fairy ~

 The wren and robin hop around;

    The Primrose-maids my neighbors be;

  The sun has warmed the mossy ground;

   Where Spring has come, I too am found;

    The cuckoo’s call has wakened me! 

by Cicely Mary Barker

Violets by Henry Maynell Rheam

I was searching for the Violet Fairy painting under the word “violet” and these two paintings also came up. Strangely, neither had ever really caught my notice before, but it is springtime and now I am drawn to and totally fascinated by both. In the first, the dimension and contrast between her velvety green gown and the lavender and purple of the violets. In the second, the motion and lush glow of the violets and–if I mistake not–a donkey in the background, and all mixed with the play of light and shadow. Both asking for–and at the same time telling–a story.

 What think you?

Violets for Perfume by Henry Herbert La Thangue