Kleine pimpernel en grote leeuwenbek 1617

This engraving by Crispijn van de Passe the Younger, presents us with the Kleine pimpernel and Grote leeuwenbek, or small pimpernel and large snapdragon. These botanical studies, rendered with scientific precision, are rich with symbolic associations that echo through time. Consider the snapdragon. Its very name invites us to see the monstrous, the animalistic lurking within the floral. From antiquity onwards, the open mouth of a beast signifies both protection and threat. We see it in the lion gates of Mycenae, guarding the city, and in the gaping maw of hell in medieval depictions of the Last Judgment. The snapdragon, too, carries this duality. In floriography, it signifies both graciousness and deception. This ambiguity reflects our complex relationship with nature, a force of nurturing beauty but also untamed power. The persistence of such symbols speaks to the enduring power of the human psyche to project its fears and desires onto the natural world. These motifs reappear, shaped and reshaped, across centuries and cultures. They remind us that the life of images is not linear but cyclical, constantly evolving and adapting as they pass through the collective memory.