Archives: December2009

• Hans Memling’s Virgin Nursing the Christ Child and the Early Netherlandish Tondo

  December 19, 2009 – March 14, 2010: This exhibition brings together for the first time the two surviving tondos by the great Flemish master Hans Memling (c.1433 – 1494). These small round oil paintings of the Virgin Mary nursing the infant Jesus are peculiarly personal and affective devotional objects that could be held in the hand or hung on a wall.

• Lewisia triphylla

  

  Continuing with the plants of Oregon series, here is number 4 in a series of 5.

  I suppose I might get in trouble with Lewisia experts for displaying an unrepresentative plant of this species. Most plants tend to have one to a few flowers with 2-5 leaves and dot the area where they grow (for examples, see photographs of Lewisia triphylla from the Burke Museum). This particular cluster was either a relative beast or, possibly, a hybrid. To give a sense of scale, this is about as wide across as the palm of my hand — a very relative beast.

  As you might expect, a plant native to Oregon will likely have a distribution spanning some parts of western North America. Do note, though (if you clicked on the link), the scattered distribution, coinciding roughly with high elevations as intimated by the Flora of North America account for the species: Lewisia triphylla (growing at elevations of 1500-3300m).

  This population of plants was located in an exposed vernal streambed that had mostly dried out by the time of this photograph in early July, but not enough to avoid mud on the knees of my shorts. Other populations later observed elsewhere also had a high degree of soil moisture, usually from recently receded snow.