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William Courtenay, 3rd Viscount Courtenay and 9th Earl of Devon (1768–1835), has been most remembered for his romantic relationship with author and slave owner, William Beckford (1760–1844), which scandalized London society in 1784. However, the 9th Earl's life after this event has received little attention despite his artistic contributions to the built environment of his ancestral home of Powderham Castle in Devon. In the 1790s, he created a series of flower watercolors on paper and cabinets under the supervision of his drawing master, William Marshall Craig (c.1765–1827). These artworks complicate ideas about gendered expectations of amateur artistic subjects, with flower painting being largely understood as a feminine accomplishment. This article explores the Earl's watercolors in the context of the spaces at Powderham to argue they are evidence of his effeminate behavior and participation in female activities alongside his thirteen sisters. The association of these objects with a man attracted to those of his own sex contribute to studies of queerness, amateur art, and the country house in the late eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Studies have established the benefits of horticultural therapy and activities for human health and well-being. Nonetheless, limited research has been conducted on the potential restorative advantages and distinctions between different types of horticultural activities in terms of stress reduction. Methods: This study employed a quantitative research method to investigate the stress recovery benefits of five horticultural activities (flower arrangement, sowing and transplanting seeds, kokedama crafting, pressed flower card making, and decorative bottle painting with dried flowers) and one reference activity (short composition writing) for children. The experiment was conducted in a children's activity center's multi-purpose classroom with 48 elementary students aged 9-12 years. The subjects first took a stress test to induce stress and then engaged in horticultural activities for 20 min. Physiological stress was assessed using electrocardiograms and electroencephalograms as feedback indicators. Psychological and emotional changes were determined using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children and Self-Assessment Manikin scales. Results: The results demonstrated that horticultural activities greatly reduced physiological fatigue, and their recovery benefits were significantly greater than those of the reference activity. The recovery effects from different horticultural activities were similar across physiological indicators, although flower arrangement and sowing and transplanting seeds exhibited relatively robust recovery benefits. The heart rate and a-EEG-based generalized estimating equation revealed that horticultural activities offered significantly better relative recovery at each time phase of operation than the reference activity, with girls showing a 3.68% higher relative recovery value than boys. Flower arrangement and kokedama crafting offered better physiological recovery for students with prior horticultural experience, and these two activities received the highest scores in terms of positive effects and the "pleasure" dimension. Students believed that participating in horticultural activities resulted in a noteworthy increase in personal confidence and a greater sense of achievement. Conclusion: The study suggests that horticultural activities that involve real and vibrant plants or natural materials and are more attractive have more stress-relieving benefits. We conclude that horticultural activities are beneficial leisure activities that aid in stress relief for children and that it is important to consider the attributes of activities when developing horticultural programs for elementary students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around a third of Clara Schumann's vocal compositions include references to flowers, whether as passing metaphors or as the principal addressee of her chosen text. At first glance this may seem unremarkable given the central place flowers held in the symbology of Romantic literature. But the survival of documents such as the Blumenbuch für Robert (1854–56) , in which she collected flowers from her travels around Europe, demonstrate a personal and distinctly feminine engagement with nineteenth-century floral practices beyond the vegetative poetics of male-authored poetry. This article examines the ways in which Clara Schumann engages with the overlapping floral discourses and media of the nineteenth century in four of her flower-centric lieder: 'Die stille Lotosblume', 'An einem lichten Morgen', 'Was weinst du, Blümlein' and 'Das Veilchen'. In these songs, flowers are explicitly gendered through their material conflation with women's bodies and relationship to a (typically male) lyric persona. I show how Schumann often uses her piano accompaniments to undermine the male construction of passive flowers by granting flowers an emergent agency in her settings. In so doing, Schumann is able to protect the stubborn silences of flowers or reify their secret desires. Flowers in these lieder thus emerge as radically polysemic and multimodal symbols, not only hinting at a myriad of possible meanings, but also reflecting a mode of feminine authorship that can be recalcitrant, revealing and tactfully mutable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the significance of the color pink in 18th-century France, particularly in relation to masculinity and whiteness. It discusses the association between pink and femininity in Rococo art, as well as the portrayal of men wearing pink, focusing on the figure of the petit-maître. The article also examines the etymology of the word "pink" and its connection to flesh tones and whiteness. It argues that pink challenged traditional notions of masculinity and played a role in the construction of whiteness as the norm. The text also discusses specific portraits that depict men in pink clothing and their associations with social status and the slave trade. [Extracted from the article]

With the rapid development of the 3D printing technique, the concept of 4D has emerged, defining time as the fourth dimension. This concept allows for changes in the appearance, function, or other properties of 3D printed objects in response to certain controlled external stimuli over time. In this work, a new photocomposite containing fluorescein based is designed on an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) system, this system can be generated by the simultaneous photopolymerization of acrylate and epoxide monomers under visible LED@405 nm irradiation. Unexpectedly, combining the reversible fluorometric turn‐on property of fluorescein and the deformation of the IPN in the presence of water, the 3D flower structure printed from this photocomposite would demonstrate a novel dual responsive behavior with both fluorescence and shape changes when it is exposed to water for a short time. This work would present a novel functional photocomposite material and also expand the application prospect of 4D printing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to analyse the scientific literature to update the problems associated with the study of the symbolism of flowers and its interpretations. The methodology of the work is based on comparative historical and comparative typological methods, which make it possible to establish the complexity and ramifications of the problem of colour symbolism; The cognitive approach made it possible to identify the dependence of the use of interpretive capabilities of colour symbolism on the formation of the emotional component for the disclosure of contents and associations. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the addition of scientific literature with new studies of colour symbolism. Conclusions. Based on the study of scientific literature, it is possible to determine the relevance of problems associated with the symbolism of flowers and its specificity. Acquaintance with the works of scientists (P. Zholtovsky, A. Kondratyuk, A. Lopukhina, L. Milyaev, F. Umantsev) made it possible to determine the directions of research of the monument and the lack of works on the symbolism of flowers in the painting of the temple. The scientific works of V. Ovsiychuk and M. Pastoureau became the basis of the theory and history of the study of flowers. The timeliness of the research is confirmed by the developments of foreign institutions and scholars, in particular, the problem of: colour psychology (H. Brem); colour theory (M. Oswald, Weingarten University of Education, German Colour Centre, University of Halle-Wittenberg); global visual communication by colour (T. Fassati). During the heyday of Baroque art, the masters of the Lavra art school used the symbolism of flowers in a new way in the ensemble of paintings of the Trinity Gate Church. Mysticism prevails in the picturesque palette of the church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced Chinese ink painting also includes work-brush flower and bird paintings with brilliant colors, in contrast to traditional ink paintings that often only use water, ink, and black and white. This serves as the foundation for our investigation into a generalized transfer problem involving ink and wash, or an ink painting coloring problem. Our goal is to automatically colorize black and white ink paintings using deep neural networks. This study can serve as a guide for coloring ink paintings and broaden the range of applications for ink painting style transfer. The high-level semantic information and low-level local features of ink paintings cannot be successfully extracted using the current generalized style transfer approach (colorization algorithm). The resulting images have muddy borders and low color saturation. In order to improve the accuracy and coherence of the coloring of ink paintings, we build training by combining the global and local features of ink paintings with the achievements of generative adversarial networks already made in the field of colorization. Comparative and objective evaluations of the experimental portion are made using metrics like peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity (SSIM), colorfulness, and user studies. Additionally, our approach beats the previous comparison approaches in terms of creative expression, color richness, and color overflow management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the early modern household's importance for producing experimental knowledge through an examination of the Halifax household of Margery and Henry Power. While Henry Power has been studied as a natural philosopher within the male-dominated intellectual circles of Cambridge and London, the epistemic labour of his wife, Margery Power, has hitherto been overlooked. From the 1650s, this couple worked in tandem to enhance their understanding of the vegetable world through various paper technologies, from books, paper slips and recipe notebooks to Margery's drawing album and Henry's published Experimental Philosophy. Focusing on Margery's practice of hand-colouring flower books, her copied and original drawings of flowers and her experimental production of ink, we argue that Margery's sensibility towards colour was crucial to Henry's microscopic observations of plants. Even if Margery's sophisticated knowledge of plants never left the household, we argue that her contribution was nevertheless crucial to the observation and representation of plants within the community of experimental philosophy. In this way, our article highlights the importance of female artists within the history of scientific observation, the use of books and paperwork in the botanical disciplines, and the relationship between household science and experimental philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The symbol pattern of flowers is the darling of art, which is loved by the people of all ethnic groups and countries in the world, and even serves as an important pattern on the coins of different periods of different countries. The difference between Chinese and Western aesthetics is only in their characteristics, and both are a part of the world culture, have their own independent aesthetic system and rhyme direction, and also have some commonalities, collision, communication, integration, change, and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have identified traits associated with anther mimicry; however, the processes underlying floral deception remain poorly documented for these structures. We studied the importance of pollinator attraction and mechanical fit of anther mimics in Tritonia laxifolia (Iridaceae) and their relative contributions to reproductive success. To determine anther mimics role in attraction, we offered bees' binary choices to flowers painted with UV‐absorbent and UV‐reflecting paints. We also conducted preference experiments between flowers with excised anther mimics and unmanipulated controls, from which mechanical fit was assessed by allowing single visits. Anther mimics' effects on female reproductive success were determined using similar treatments, but on rooted plants. Bees preferred UV‐absorbent over UV‐reflecting anther mimics. Bees did not discriminate between flowers with and without three‐dimensional anther mimics. Single visits resulted in more pollen deposition on unmanipulated controls over flowers with their anther mimics excised, which was directly linked to pollen‐collecting behavior. Controls with unmanipulated anther mimics had higher seed set than those with their anther mimics excised. This study provides insights into pollinator‐mediated selection on deceptive floral signals and shows that three‐dimensional anther mimics increases reproductive success through both attraction and pollen‐collecting behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People have an ancient and strong bond to flowers, which are known to have a positive effect on the mood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of ornamental plants increased, and many turned to gardening, possibly as a way to cope with ubiquitous increases in negative mood following lockdowns and social isolation. The nature of the special bond between humans and flowers requires additional elucidation. To this means, we conducted a comprehensive online mixed methods study, surveying 253 individuals (ages 18–83) from diverse ethnic backgrounds and continents, regarding their thoughts and feelings towards photos of flowers, nature scenes and flower drawings. We found that looking at pictures and drawings of flowers, as well as nature scenes induced positive emotions, and participants reported a variety of positive responses to the images. More specifically, we found associations of flowers with femininity, and connotations to particular flowers that were affected by geographical location. While nature scene photos induced positive reactions, flower photos were preferred, denying a mere substitution of nature by flowers and vice versa. Drawings of flowers elicited less positive emotions than photos, as people related more to the art than to the flower itself. Our study reveals the importance of ornamental flowers and nature in our life and well-being, and as such their cultivation and promotion are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]