Lone Collector for the Good of All. Apis mellifera, European Honeybee, on Hawkweed Oxtongue, Picris hieracioides, Pons, Charente-Maritime, France
So, yes! from Richelieu's La Rochelle I went down to Pons, Protestant - Huguenot - stronghold of the mid-seventeenth century. The daughter of a cadet family of the lords of Pons, Suzanne, was a well-known courtesan at the court of Louis XIV of France, later to call himself the Sun King. She'd become Dame de la Gastevine through marriage in 1650 to Philippe de Loubès. In 1663 Henric Piccardt (1636-1712) - on whom I'm doing some 'work' - dedicated to her his book of poetry. In that book he writes a cycle of 30 poems called "Solitude", exulting in an Enclosed Garden with a Lovable Lady alternatively called Amaranthe, Philis, even Flore. He compares the inspirations she gives his poetry to the bees - "ces petites Mouches" - who fashion wax and honey out of the collections with which they have returned from The Garden. Wax and honey here are used as metaphors for Piccardt's poems.
Of course, this very laden Honey Bee on Hawkweed Oxtongue reminded me of Piccardt's metaphor. More: the 'Hawkweed' is apt, too, for Piccardt fashioned his coat of arms from the claw of a hawk or eagle.
I saw this pretty contorsion of a bee on an Oxtongue in an abandoned railway yard near the railway station of Pons. It had rained all morning and a bit of Sun was just coming out.
Lone Collector for the Good of All. Apis mellifera, European Honeybee, on Hawkweed Oxtongue, Picris hieracioides, Pons, Charente-Maritime, France
So, yes! from Richelieu's La Rochelle I went down to Pons, Protestant - Huguenot - stronghold of the mid-seventeenth century. The daughter of a cadet family of the lords of Pons, Suzanne, was a well-known courtesan at the court of Louis XIV of France, later to call himself the Sun King. She'd become Dame de la Gastevine through marriage in 1650 to Philippe de Loubès. In 1663 Henric Piccardt (1636-1712) - on whom I'm doing some 'work' - dedicated to her his book of poetry. In that book he writes a cycle of 30 poems called "Solitude", exulting in an Enclosed Garden with a Lovable Lady alternatively called Amaranthe, Philis, even Flore. He compares the inspirations she gives his poetry to the bees - "ces petites Mouches" - who fashion wax and honey out of the collections with which they have returned from The Garden. Wax and honey here are used as metaphors for Piccardt's poems.
Of course, this very laden Honey Bee on Hawkweed Oxtongue reminded me of Piccardt's metaphor. More: the 'Hawkweed' is apt, too, for Piccardt fashioned his coat of arms from the claw of a hawk or eagle.
I saw this pretty contorsion of a bee on an Oxtongue in an abandoned railway yard near the railway station of Pons. It had rained all morning and a bit of Sun was just coming out.