Intro

This is a private page intended for research and creative findings only. Text is in the main borrowed from digital links intending to provide ease of access to exisiting information. The purpose of this page is to build a catalogue of cultural references much like a scrapbook for the purpose of developing a mural design for Puma Court in Shoreditch.

Artist: Claire Ward-Thornton (CWT), founder of Art Hoppers.

Inspiration: Nicholas Culpeper, renowned writer, botanist, medical practitioner.

Partner: Global Street Art

Client: Essential Living, property at Puma Court

The corner of Puma Court adds an eye catching feature with beautiful planting surrounding ‘Flat Iron’ restaurant.

Many of the plants make a connection with those featured in Culpeper’s Complete Herbal.

The wall of the mural is North facing, of the Victorian period with yellow brick and features several alcoves.

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Ref: https://thelondoni.com/puma-court/

Puma Court takes you from the frenetic energy of Commercial Street to the calm stature of the eighteenth century houses in Wilkes Street and beyond.

On the left as you head towards Wilkes Street are the Norton Folgate almshouses, which date from a rebuild in 1860 and still provide much needed homes for disadvantaged people today.

The almshouses are in the shadows of Christ Church, Spitalfields, which is apt as the Church along with Tower Hamlets Council administer. The church looks protectively over Puma Court and the surrounding area as it has done since built to the design of Nicholas Hawksmoor in the early 1700’s.

Puma Court used to be known as Red Lion Court but was largely rebuilt and renamed in the Georgian years, the shops on the opposite side to the almshouses being constructed in the early nineteenth century.

Of all Spitalfields’ past residents, one name stands out above others – Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654), a herbalist and medical practitioner operating from Red Lion St (now Commercial St) who devoted his life to healing, and especially to healing the poor. (link)

His writing; The English Physician (1652), later entitled The Complete Herbal is his better known work and continues to be in publication today. Culpeper’s instructions for the right use of the Complete Herbal involve pulling knowledge from his book entitled Astrological Judgement of Diseases. This provides a detailed guide to applying astrological knowledge to understand and predict disease, offering insights into both prognosis and the potential causes of illness.

Culpeper was brought up by his mother and maternal grandfather. As a child, he loved his grandfather’s collection of clocks, which spurred a deep interest in astrology and time. Through his youth and young adulthood, he obsessively read medical texts from his grandfather’s library and spent hours in the fields and forests of the English countryside – Isfield, Sussex, near Lewes, (See church and sun dial) cataloguing countless herbs with the intent of garnering enough knowledge to publish his findings.

William Attersoll (Culpeper’s grandfather) was a Puritan who had written several books of Biblical analysis. As well as instruction in scripture, classics and mathematics, he instilled in Culpeper a strong disrespect of the Crown. It was also from Attersoll, who was familiar with Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos, that Culpeper inherited his interest in astronomy.

Ref: History Today

Formative influences in Culpeper’s life were the Sussex fields and woods, where he familiarised himself with the plants with medicinal properties, known to herbalists as ‘simples’, which he found growing locally and then, in the company of his mother and other women, learnt their ‘virtues’, or uses.

Culpeper’s herbal remedies included many botanicals, including anemone to treat leprosy, bedstraw to act as an aphrodisiac, and burdock to soothe tooth pain. Other, less esoteric ingredients were used as well – chamomile, juniper, parsley being just a few among hundreds of other botanicals.

Ref: Sussex Wildlife Trust

Below a collection of images, including photos of planting at Puma Court, heritage engravings of botanical studies from various sources and an example of a physic garden.

Influenced during his apprenticeship by the radical preacher John Goodwin, who said no authority was above question, Culpeper became a radical republican and opposed the “closed shop” of medicine enforced by censors of the College of Physicians. In his youth, Culpeper translated medical and herbal texts for his master, such as the London Pharmacopaeia from Latin. During the political turmoil of the English Civil War, the College of Physicians was unable to enforce its ban on the publication of medical texts, and Culpeper deliberately chose to publish his translations in vernacular English as self-help medical guides for use by the poor, who could not afford to consult physicians. He followed them up with a manual on childbirth and with his main work, The English Physitian, which was deliberately sold cheaply. It became available also in colonial America and has been in print continually since the 17th century.

Culpeper saw medicine as a public asset, not a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged as too high compared with the cheap, universal availability of nature’s medicine. He felt the use of Latin and the high fees charged by doctors, lawyers and priests worked to deprive the public of power and freedom.

The mural is inspired by the life and writings of Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654), an astrological botanist, herbalist and medical practitioner. Culpeper’s translation of the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis from Latin – a medical text which apothecary’s at the time were strictly required to reference in the running of their medical practice – was an attempt to reform the system of medicine. His publishing of the paper was controversial amongst physicians as it gave power to all those who could read, to access the knowledge for preserving health and curing disease. Culpeper believed this knowledge should be available to everyone.

He went on to publish further writings. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal is still in print today and considered a definitive guide to herbal medicine. Through my personal research in seeking to find the most popular herb, St. John’s Wort stood out. One of the most well studied plants today, St. John’s Wort is recognised for it’s healing properties with regard to wounds, burns, depression and anxiety.

Referring to St. John’s Wort in Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, astrology plays a part in our understanding of the plants ‘government and virtues’. It is under the celestial sign of Leo and the domination of the sun. Its bright yellow flowers with radiating stamens give it the appearance of the sun and in keeping with this symbolism, it has traditionally been used in celebration of the summer solstice.

In folklore the plant is also recognised as a preservative against evil spirits perhaps in part due to it’s namesake with St John the Baptist. In England and Wales during the 1600’s, St John’s Wort was suspended over doorways along with green birch, long fennel, orpine and white lilies to protect against demons. Sprigs of the plant or wreaths were hung on the eve of St. John’s Day until the eve of St. Peter and Paul’s Day, June 28th.

The door to Culpeper’s home was Red Lion House. In the early 1600’s this was located roughly where Puma Court is today. The house faced Red Lion Field and was situated on Red Lion Street, now Commercial Street.

A sleeping red lion incorporated into the mural offers a peaceful reminder of Culpeper’s legacy, a fierce leading figure of the past. He rests within the right alcove beside the street name Puma Court as a tribute to both Red Lion Street and Red Lion House demolished in the 1840’s. The lion doubles up as a representation of the star sign Leo befitting the narrative of the designs botanical protagonist. Interestingly, St. John’s Wort releases a red juice from the buds of the flower when pinched.

Leading the narrative from the top right of the mural, the iconic yellow flower projects it’s sunbeam like stamens, radiating solar energy into the design. Three ellipses circle the flowerhead and encompass the family of plants below which lean in to the warmth of its light. A collection of stars journey round the sun playing their role in the celestial readings of space, place and time.

The wall on which the mural is painted faces north. A compass on the left side of the wall is suspended up high. The cardinal points are seen from below as a reminder of the scale and influence of planetary forces when considering the relevance to astrology. Here navigation is led by the skies. Painting imagery of St. John’s Wort together with the collection of botanicals which are said to defend against darkness, brings the brightness and optimism of southern light to the wall through design.

Below, 2 iterations of the design.

Top – refined design following feedback.

Bottom – original sketch.

Style References

Paint application:

Visible brushmarks

Loose gestural painting / textured surface

Linear markings / energy in the mark making

Washes of colour / transparency / splashes / drips

Colour Palette

Exploring colours inspired by the setting. Taking the lead from the natural arrangements of plants and considering what works against the wall.

Thought: apply a dark wash in spotted areas of the background to soften the varied markings on the wall and enhance the arrangement of loose stems, tendrils where needed…

Here’s the link!