Corona Vitae

Corona Vitae

Object name: Wallpaper sample

Walter Crane (1815 - 1915)

Date: 1890
Dimensions:
935mm x 512mm
Medium: Woodcut
Object number: PT0791
DescriptionColour print from wood blocks 93.5 x 51.2 cm, 1890.
Crane said that the inspiration for this design came from 'Sicilian silk hangings, or the sumptuous brocades that are spread behind royal seats in early pictures and woodcuts. The design may be understood as symbolically as a full, rich and ample human life, not without its changes and contrasts, but ever springing anew to flavour and fruition. While the floral winged lions, supporting the Corona Vitae which means the Crown of Life, indicate its material triumphs. The sphinxes on either side of the tree, the unanswered problems that are presented to humanity in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. In the frieze the Crown again appears upheld in triumph by the good genie of the house, in the full pride of its flowering time, alternating with the fruit-bearing seed after its kind'.