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In 1772, at 72, Mary Delany noticed how a geranium petal matched a scrap of red paper — and invented the 'paper mosaick'. Over the next decade she cut 985 botanically precise flower collages, each built from hundreds of tiny paper pieces.

Mary Delany, 1772

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Why it matters

The idea in context

'I have invented a new way of imitating flowers,' she wrote that autumn. Botanists including Joseph Banks admired the collages' scientific accuracy; some carry hundreds of paper petals layered on black backgrounds. She worked for about ten years until her eyesight failed in her early eighties. The ten albums she called the Flora Delanica now rest in the British Museum — the life's work of an artist who started at 72.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

1772'de, 72 yaşındaki Mary Delany bir sardunya yaprağının kırmızı bir kâğıt parçasıyla nasıl örtüştüğünü fark etti — ve 'kâğıt mozaiği' icat etti. Sonraki on yılda, her biri yüzlerce minik kâğıt parçasından kurulan, botanik açıdan kusursuz 985 çiçek kolajı kesti.
Mary Delany, 1772

O sonbahar şöyle yazdı: 'Çiçekleri taklit etmenin yeni bir yolunu icat ettim.' Joseph Banks dâhil botanikçiler kolajların bilimsel doğruluğuna hayran kaldı; bazıları siyah zemine katman katman yerleştirilmiş yüzlerce kâğıt taç yaprağı taşır. Seksenlerinin başında gözleri yorulana dek yaklaşık on yıl çalıştı. Flora Delanica adını verdiği on albüm bugün British Museum'da — 72'sinde başlamış bir sanatçının hayat eseri.

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Background reading: Mary DelanyAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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