A glass flower at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
It is nearly impossible to preserve a dead specimen in a pristine manner.
Preserving botanical specimens also poses a challenge.
Flowers were traditionally pressed between two sheets of papers until they dried out.
That material is glass.
Leopold had suffered two devastating losses.
In 1850, his first wife died of cholera.
Two years later, his father died.
The grieving Leopold decided that a vacation to the United States would help his heart heal.
The glasslike transparency of these animals, especially the bioluminescence fascinated him.
He wrote:
It is a beautiful night in May.
Blaschka’s glass models of sea anemones.
In his free time, Leopold made glass models of plants for his own amusement.
These models came to the attention of Prince Camille de Rohan, an aristocratic horticulturist in Brittany.
Leopold agreed, and within a short time Leopolds mail-order enterprise became a successful venture.
The timing was just right.
Aside from zoos, natural history museums from all across the world ordered thousands of these models.
For the first time curators were able to display creatures in their living forms and colors that were permanent.
Goodale requested them to make a series of botanical models for the new museum.
They are still one of Harvard’s most treasured collection.
He in turn will have a son who must, as your father, be passionately fond of glass.
But, if you do not have such ancestors, it is not your fault.
My grandfather was the most widely known glassworker in Bohemia.
Glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Image credit: Massachusetts Office Of Travel & Tourism
