Inspired by Plants: The Glass Flowers as a Window into Botanical Education

The Glass Flowers exhibit is one of the major attractions at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. This remarkable collection is the product of the father and son artists-naturalists, Leopold (1822-1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857-1939). These renowned artists and glassworkers created life-like models that allow museum visitors to experience both the familiar and the exotic. Their masterful work, informed by detailed studies of each plant from nature, employed inventive methods to shape and color glass; they developed methods to mimic the surface textures and colors of leaves, branches, and flowers. Why did the Blaschkas produce this collection and who inspired them in this endeavor? To answer this question, we look deeply into the initiation of the project and the era in which the models were made.