A few paintings of Spring to mark the Vernal Equinox, and for those in the Southern Hemisphere, I’ve included Arthur Streeton’s Autumn (images above, bottom), to celebrate their oncoming season.
The inclusion of JW Waterhouse’s Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (images above, second from bottom) prompted me to include the relevant verse from Robert Herrick’s poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, which was the inspiration for the painting, as well as a Chinese poem, The Gold-threaded Robe by Du Quiniang, that I think expresses the same sentiment even more succinctly.
Gather ye rosebuds while you may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
-Robert Herrick
Covet not a gold-threaded robe,
Cherish only your young days!
If a bud open, gather it —
Lest you but wait for an empty bough.
-Du Quiniang
(images above, links are to my posts: Vincent van Gogh, Frits Thaulow, Kawai Gyokudō, Julian Onderdonk, John Sloan, Alfons Mucha, Claude Monet, Kawase Hasui, Gustaf Fjaestad, Camille Pissarro, JW Waterhouse, Arthur Streeton)
