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Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop, by Clarence Bicknell

Image attached to PD.8-1980.f.27

An image of Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop. Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop. Bicknell, Clarence (British, 1842-1918). Watercolour over graphite on paper, height, leaf, 326  mm, width, leaf, 255 mm, 1908. Part of: A Posy. Vellum-bound sketchbook containing leaves with an index at the end. Cover with brown leather ornamentation and remains of vellum closure straps. 
Inscription(s): Recto, upper right; watercolour; 51. Recto; watercolour; Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they, / But hardier far, once more I see thee bend / Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend / Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day, / Storms, sallying from the mountain tops, waylay / The rising sun, and on the plains descend: / Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend / Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May / Shall soon behold this border thickly set / With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing / On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers; / Nor will I then thy modest grace forget, / Chaste snowdrop, venturous harbinger of spring, / And pensive monitor of fleeting years! / Wordsworth. Verso; watercolour; O darling spirits of the snow, / Who hide within your heart the green, Howe'er the wintry wind may blow, / The secret of the summer sheen / Ye smile to know. / By frozen rills, in woods and mead, / A mild pure sisterhood ye grow, / Who bend the meek and quit head / And are a token from below / From our dear dead. / As in their turf ye softly shine / Of innocent white lives they lead / With healing influence Divine / For souls who on their memory feed / World-worn like mine. / Roden Noel.

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Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop. Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop. Bicknell, Clarence (British, 1842-1918). Watercolour over graphite on paper, height, leaf, 326 mm, width, leaf, 255 mm, 1908. Part of: A Posy. Vellum-bound sketchbook containing leaves with an index at the end. Cover with brown leather ornamentation and remains of vellum closure straps. Inscription(s): Recto, upper right; watercolour; 51. Recto; watercolour; Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they, / But hardier far, once more I see thee bend / Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend / Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day, / Storms, sallying from the mountain tops, waylay / The rising sun, and on the plains descend: / Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend / Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May / Shall soon behold this border thickly set / With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing / On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers; / Nor will I then thy modest grace forget, / Chaste snowdrop, venturous harbinger of spring, / And pensive monitor of fleeting years! / Wordsworth. Verso; watercolour; O darling spirits of the snow, / Who hide within your heart the green, Howe'er the wintry wind may blow, / The secret of the summer sheen / Ye smile to know. / By frozen rills, in woods and mead, / A mild pure sisterhood ye grow, / Who bend the meek and quit head / And are a token from below / From our dear dead. / As in their turf ye softly shine / Of innocent white lives they lead / With healing influence Divine / For souls who on their memory feed / World-worn like mine. / Roden Noel.

Image data

  • Accession Number: PD.8-1980.f.27
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/19.0
  • Focal length: 80
  • Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
  • Photographer name: Sam Cole
  • Image height: 1025 pixels
  • Image width: 784 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 532.62kB
  • Exposure time: 1/125
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 19/1

Key words

20th Century Bicknell border botanical British School Clarence Bicknell drawing Fitz_PDP floral flowers Galanthus handwriting handwritten illustrated illustration poem poetry poets sketch sketchbook snowdrops verses watercolour Winter writing

Colours in this image

rgb(240,231,217), rgb(6,6,5), rgb(155,170,158), rgb(194,193,184), rgb(109,157,118), rgb(208,203,142), rgb(161,163,93), rgb(213,195,186), rgb(131,105,78), rgb(183,162,155), rgb(108,92,116)

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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop, by Clarence Bicknell" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-1703259876 Accessed: 2024-04-18 14:14:41

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-1703259876 |title=Inscription surrounded by floral border: Snowdrop, by Clarence Bicknell |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-18 14:14:41|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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