From Leaves to Roses

This morning I was stirring a pile of rose petals strewn across my tabletop. Jeff brought them home after the Obama victory last week -- we're living in The After now, and roses seemed required -- and I've decided to extend their life by making potpourri. Their soft and dainty colors and the smell that settled in the air as I moved them reminded me of an artist and painting I was introduced to a year ago and was simply amazed by.

Have you ever seen paintings by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema? This painting's story is rather brutal -- Roman Emperor Heliogabalus is attempting to smother his unsuspecting guests in rose-petals that drop from ceiling panels. But the work is magnificent -- capturing that trail of petals as they drifted down through the air! He worked from life on this -- I've read that for four months he had roses delivered from the Riviera to his London studio on a weekly basis.

Be sure to click on the image to get a closer look.

The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema