July 23, 2008
· Filed under History, Nature · Tagged bee, flowers, Melipone bee, pollination
Well into the 1800s, vanilla orchids were only cultivated in Mexico. Many countries tried to establish vanilla orchid plantations in their own tropical colonies but they always failed since they didn’t realise how to make the flowers form fruits.
In 1836, Belgian botanist Charles Morren realised why all the vanilla orchids grown outside Mexico refused to produce fruits. In Mexico, you can find the Melipone bee, a tiny bee endemic to this region and present nowhere else in the world. Charles Morren understood that the Melipone bee was the only insect capable of pollinating the vanilla flower. If you want vanilla orchids to bear fruit without using Melipone bees, you have to hand-pollinate every single flower.
July 23, 2008
· Filed under Art & Culture, History · Tagged art, artist, El greco, expressionistic art
El Greco – “The Greek” – was born in Crete in 1541. His real name was Doménicos Theotokópoulos and he usually signed his works with his full name using the Greek alphabet. He was an architect, a painter and a sculptor.
When El Greco was born, Crete was a part of the Republic of Venice and a centre for Post-Byzantine art. El Greco was trained in the tradition of Cretan icon painting, before moving to Venice.
After three years in Venice, El Greco left the city for Rome where he opened up a workshop. While living in Italy, El Greco began incorporating elements of Mannerism and of Venetian Renaissance in his works.
When El Greco was 36 years old, he moved to Madrid and then to Toledo in Spain where he would remain for the rest of his life. His best known paintings were painted in Toledo, such as El Espolio, View of Toledo and Opening of the Fifth Seal.
El Greco’s works were characterized by a dramatic and expressionistic style very unusual in 16th century Europe and he is today considered an early precursor of expressionism and cubism.
In 1614, El Greco fell ill while working on a commission for the Hospital Tavera. After no more than a month, he died on April 7. His body was buried in the Church of Santo Domingo el Antigua.
