English bluebells have an iconic status in British life. The enchantment of these dainty flowers is deeply embedded in early English myth, folklore and history. Authors from Shakespeare to Emily Brontë, John Keats, and C. S. Lewis have written about them. Mozart wrote his first opera at age eleven entitled “Apollo and Hyacinthus” from the Greek myth in which the bluebell is named. In the language of flowers bluebells symbolize humility, constancy, gratitude and everlasting love.
As Dallas-based painter Lorraine Villere describes them, the English bluebell forests are the “beating heart of Great Britain.” As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second that have taken place this spring, Degas Gallery presented an April exhibition of Villere’s bluebell paintings. In capturing the exquisite beauty of sites like Micheldever Wood where bluebells grow in profusion and are protected by an act of Parliament, her paintings serve to celebrate the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, in which trees are being planted around the world.
Via this link you may reach a video capturing an interview of Lorraine Villere with Dr. E. Quinn Peeper, Chairman of the English-Speaking Union of the United States, as well as Dr. Peeper’s excellent musical tribute to Her Majesty. https://www.esuus.org/esu/