In this month’s The Art of Seeing, one work of art will be our focus as we consider the arrival of the season of Spring as metamorphosis. Literally translating a ‘shape changing’ metamorphosis has been understood by the ancients, philosophers and poets as not simply a surface change but one which is moved to those changes through the deeper workings of Nature and invisible forces, including love. Yet these revelations and ‘truths’ were to be expressed subtly, which made works of art wonderful carriers for such ideas which could be cloaked in different forms. In effect, works of art are embodiments of metamorphosis. Revealing any truths explicitly would obscure them. Edgar Wind writes;

“To ‘reveal the mysteries’ is to move the veils while preserving their dimness, so that the truth may penetrate but not glare. The transcendent secret is kept hidden, but made to transpire through the disguise.”

We will explore the transformation Spring brings with her, moving beyond the modern scientific approach to the workings of Nature as mechanistic, and instead broaden our vision to include the allegorical and tropological senses. We will take inspiration from, among others, Lorenzo de Medici’s poem, where he writes; “Spring is the month when Flora adorns the world with flowers.” Holding in balance an appreciation of the arrival of new life in a visual display that Spring brings to the fabric of the earth, as well as a mythical dimension of Spring, allows us to see not only the work of art anew, but brings a new alertness and attention to Nature around us, awakening the senses and the soul.