Grass Heart - Print

The earliest depictions of the use of the heart symbol is believed to derive from the ancient culture of Cyrene, a North African city which was founded by the Greeks in 631 BC, and then later ruled by the Romans. Situated beside the Mediterranean Sea in the region now known as Libya, Cyrene was a hub for merchants, and one of the main trades was a now extinct plant known as silphium. It’s no wonder this plant was highly sort after, as not only could it be used for seasoning food, it was also a perfume, a medicine for treating coughs, sore throats, warts, indigestion - the list goes on - and an aphrodisiac that doubled up as a contraceptive. The seedpod of the silphium plant resembled the shape of the heart symbol, and so it is suggested that this shape was first associated with love and sex. The plant was so important to the city’s economy that the outline of the heart shaped seedpod appeared on the side of circulating silver coins.⁣

Reproduced from Daniel Mackie's watercolour painting, this print is printed on somerset velvet 225gsm fine art paper.

Shipped in a tube. Frame not included. Signed by the artist.

Copyright © 2017 Daniel Mackie All Rights Reserved.