Galanthus and Ipheion | Vintage Botanical Print

Vintage Botanical Print | 16th-Century Flower Illustration | Antique Herbal Art | Printable Floral Wall Decor | Digital Download

Celebrate the beauty of early spring blooms with Galanthus and Ipheion, a rare botanical watercolor from the 16th century by Italian artist and botanist Gherardo Cibo. This exquisite piece, part of Mattioli’s expanded edition of Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica, features snowdrops and starflowers in vivid detail, framed by a romantic landscape and rustic figures.

Perfect for admirers of antique botanical art, vintage floral prints, natural history illustrations, and printable wall decor with historical charm.

➤ Instant digital download
➤ High-resolution file, ready to print
➤ Ideal for cottagecore interiors, floral decor, herbalist spaces, or academic collections

Pixartiko Collective – Usage License

Prints allowed for personal use and resale only as physical products in local shops. Use in other physical goods permitted if pixartiko.com is credited when possible.
Digital resale, sharing, or publishing is strictly forbidden.
Designs are not public domain and cannot be distributed online.

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Print Sizes

🖼 Included Print Sizes (No Cropping Needed)

This high resolution digital file is optimized for printing at the following standard sizes, no cropping or borders required. Just download, print, and frame:

Inches	Centimeters	Suggested Use
11.7 x 16.5	A3 – 29.7 x 42	Wall art, poster, vertical frame
8.3 x 11.7	A4 – 21 x 29.7	Standard frame, home office decor
5.8 x 8.3	A5 – 14.8 x 21	Small prints, journaling inserts
4.1 x 5.8	A6 – 10.5 x 14.8	Greeting card, mini gift
7 x 10	17.8 x 25.4	Portrait print, versatile framing
5 x 7	12.7 x 17.8	Classic photo size, shelf display

 

🖨️ All sizes are print-ready at 300 DPI, maintaining the original image ratio. No cropping or borders required.

📂 Your download includes:

• 1 high resolution JPEG file (2134 x 2988 px).
• Artistic Declaration Certificate in PDF.
• Free gift: The Ages of Painting guide — a visual journey through the history of painting.

🎨 Need a different size or format?
No problem! Just send me a message and I’ll be happy to adapt it for you.

Art Review

“Galanthus and Ipheion” by Gherardo Cibo: A Botanical Duel Beneath a Dramatic Sky

In “Galanthus and Ipheion”, the 16th-century herbalist and painter Gherardo Cibo delivers a sublime contrast of delicacy and drama — two modest flowers enlarged to monumental scale, staged against a sky that broods like a Renaissance tempest. As always in Cibo’s botanical works, the image is more than a study: it’s a stage where plants and humans share the same poetic terrain.

At first glance, we encounter the Galanthus (snowdrop) and the Ipheion (spring starflower), rendered with immaculate clarity and reverence. The Ipheion stands tall and starry-eyed in brilliant blue, while the Galanthus droops humbly in white, as if bowing under the weight of the atmosphere. Their oversized presence transforms them into arboreal sentinels — watchful and wise — whose fragile petals resist the ominous sky overhead.

The composition is a masterclass in vertical tension. The sinuous green leaves rise like columns, while above them, the cloud-streaked firmament simmers in an unusual palette: smoky greys, blushing pinks, and soft violets. The color scheme is theatrical, even visionary, suggesting a world in flux — perhaps between winter and spring, or ignorance and knowledge.

Below, Cibo inserts his signature human vignettes. To the left, a bearded man gently tends the soil — a scholar or monk, perhaps, harvesting with devotion. To the right, another figure raises a pickaxe, captured mid-motion, in a striking counterpoint to the meditative tone on the opposite side. These figures represent not only agricultural labor, but also the human encounter with mystery — one tender, one forceful.

What makes “Galanthus and Ipheion” so compelling is its layered symbolism. The snowdrop has long been seen as an emblem of hope and rebirth, while the starflower hints at constancy and celestial guidance. Together, under Cibo’s expressive brush, they form a botanical diptych of resilience — two flowers that pierce through frozen soil and turbulent skies to declare the arrival of light.

Gherardo Cibo, as always, resists simplicity. His plants are never isolated, but enmeshed in landscapes both literal and symbolic. In this work, he gives us more than two flowering bulbs — he offers us a vision of human striving, natural cycles, and the quiet heroism of growth.