Ancient Czech Trees
St. Vaclav’s Oak
Drawing on asphaltum-stained paper (2005)
The crippled torso of this ancient European Oak is still to be found by the ancient fortress town of Stochov near Prague. It is hollow, truncated and clearly nearing the end of its days, yet the beloved elder has been mended, patched, bolstered and kept alive as much as it is within the powers of people to intercede and extend the life of a tree. It gives one pause over the care, which this tree receives, and the cavalier fashion with we treat our own ancients. This Oak has an oral tradition and is said to have been planted by Saint Ludmila in 903 AD in honor of the royal birth of her grandson, heir to the throne and eventual patron saint of the lands of the Czechs - St. Vaclav (or St. Wenceslaus in Latin).
My own nod to tradition and my artistic linneage: Leonardo, Linnaeus et Ladislav
The great old Oak added to a selection of some great drawings from the past