Inspired by Henry Francis du Pont’s love of flowers, Winterthur’s Dried-Flower Tree is a phenomenon of color, texture, and floral artistry. Thousands of brillant spring and summer blooms are perfectly preserved throughout the year, reprising their roles each holiday season to delight spellbound visitors.

To create the “largest bouquet” ever made at Winterthur, we chose a wide variety of flowers and plant material from the Winterthur cutting gardens and fields and used two methods of drying: silica gel and hanging.

Silica Gel

One method for drying flower heads calls for “flower dri” (silica gel). Silica gel is a desiccant, a substance that has a great affinity for water; it rapidly absorbs moisture from flowers. The white powder has small blue crystals and is reusable indefinitely. As the powder absorbs moisture, the blue crystals turn pink, indicating that they can absorb no more moisture. Simply put silica gel in a 350-degree oven for an hour or so and the crystals will turn blue and be ready for another use.

General considerations with this method of drying:

• All flowers should be absolutely fresh.
• Dry flowers in several stages of bloom: buds, partially open, fully open, and some with foliage.
• Before drying, flowers must be wired since they become fragile once dried.
• Put similar types of plant material in the same box.
• Flowers shrink when dried and many also darken.
• Small, fragile flowers will take two or three days to dry.
• Most will take five to seven days.
• If the material feels slightly limp, it is not dry. Bury in the gel for several more days.

Steps to follow:

1. Cut off flower heads.
2. Insert wire through the center of the flower, loop, pull down through the flower head so that the head is secure.
3. Place two inches flower dri in bottom of pan.
4. Place flower head “heads up” in flower dri.
5. Pour flower dri over flower heads and between each layer of petals. Cover completely.
6. For long stems such as snapdragon and delphinium, place horizontally on flower dri. Cover completely.
7. Cover and seal flowers in airtight pan.
8. Mark flower type on pan.
9. Allow ample time for flowers to dry.
10. When flowers are dry, remove carefully. Gently pull flower heads up while dusting off flower dri.
11. Store in covered box.
12. Mark flower type on box.

Hanging Method

A second method of drying is hanging flowers in small bunches until dry.

Experience Yuletide at Winterthur

Experience the beauty of Winterthur’s Dried-Flower Tree during Yuletide, and join us next year for an exciting lineup of floral classes and workshops!

This year’s gingerbread display is based on the farming operations that once formed a vital component of life at Winterthur when it was a private home. A dairy herd, animal husbandry, and agricultural crops were as integral then to the world of Winterthur as museum operations are today. 

Cows were a part of the Winterthur landscape from its earliest days, grazing contentedly in the shadow of the mansion. In 1917, Henry Francis du Pont purchased four bulls and two cows for the astounding sum of $70,000 (about $1.6 million today). The breed was Holstein-Friesian, considered to be the most prolific milkers. That group became known at Winterthur as the “Foundation Herd.”

To house the herd, du Pont constructed a huge barn complex at the top of Farm Hill. Staff included a farm manager, resident veterinarian, dairy manager, and herdsmen. A creamery across from the dairy barn could process 10,000 pounds of milk a day. An electric cable tramway capable of transferring six milk cans at a time connected the second level of the dairy barn to the top of the creamery, where the milk was sterilized and pasteurized before being sold as “Winterthur Special Holstein Milk” in bottles carrying the motto “Better Milk for Better Babies from Winterthur Farms.” The milk was celebrated throughout the local area for its high quality.

Following H. F. du Pont’s death in 1969, and per his instructions, the Winterthur herd was sold at auction, ending a memorable chapter in Winterthur’s history.

The gingerbread representation of Farm Hill includes the various barns, as well as some of the workers’ homes. Weighing in at more than 300 pounds, the display includes more than 108 pounds of gingerbread! It is the creation of the skilled hands of artisans from Bredenbeck’s Bakery in Philadelphia.

This is the third year that Bredenbeck’s has dazzled Yuletide visitors with their artistry. In 2022, they presented an impressive gingerbread house of the Winterthur mansion, followed by a model made to replicate Enchanted Woods. We are grateful to Bredenbeck’s head sugar artist Diana Anello and bakery co-owners Jacob Boyd and Irvin Boyd for this wonderful Yuletide display. Don’t miss it!

See the display on view through January 5, 2024 in the Galleries. Plan your visit today!

For more than sixty years, the Delaware Antiques Show’s recognizable trademark has been the image of a dove with an olive branch in its beak. This stylized motif derives from the design on the underside of a spoon in the Winterthur collection made by Bancroft Woodcock (1732–1817), a Quaker silversmith who worked in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1754 to the early 1790s. 

But why decorate the underside of a spoon? According to Donald L. Fennimore, Winterthur curator emeritus in Flights of Fancy: American Silver Bird-Decorated Spoons, the reason stems from a technical issue. On silver spoons, the juncture of the bowl and handle is a potential point of weakness because of the softness of the metal. Silversmiths therefore thickened that juncture to provide increased rigidity. They then made the area more attractive by ornamenting it with a variety of decorative motifs, including scrolls, shells, and images of birds. 

As Fennimore wrote, “In a brief but intriguing period between 1750 and 1830, imagery on the backs of English and American silver teaspoon and tablespoon bowls soared on the wings of birds.” Although numerous varieties of birds appear on English spoons, silversmiths in America invariably chose the dove with olive branch—a symbol of renewal and regeneration that has been used for millennia in both a religious and secular context. 

The Bancroft Woodcock dove with olive branch design was registered as the official trademark of the Delaware Antiques Show in 1964, the first year of the show. Since that time, the familiar insignia has continued to symbolize the quality and professionalism exhibited at this annual event.

By Kedra Kearis, Ph.D., associate curator of art and visual culture

Not long after his return from the London studio of Benjamin West in 1771, Charles Willson Peale noted that he painted “Mr. Loyd [sic] a conversation,” a reference to the impressive, large-scale figural group, now in Winterthur Museum’s collection. The painting depicts Maryland planter Lloyd, his wife Elizabeth Tayloe, and their daughter Anne. Now recognized as The Edward Lloyd Family (fig. 1), his note “conversation” references a fashionable British portrait style that portrayed wealthy families engaged in conversation or leisure activities. Eager to display their wealth and status, this conversation piece features the Lloyds surrounded by objects that signal their wealth and sophistication, including rich imported textiles, elegant furniture, a handsomely carved cittern, or early English guitar à la mode. Charles referenced their estate—the Wye River estate located in Maryland— with an English garden pavilion based on a drawing in architect Isaac Ware’s well-known book of designs. A Winterthur favorite, this painting is now featured in the first-floor galleries as part of The Peale Painters: Global Perspectives in the Winterthur Collection. Details of the portrait can now be examined closely, revealing the contrasting pale green silk lining Edward’s scarlet and gold embroidered coat, the light reflected from Elizabeth’s jeweled hair comb and necklace, and the Palladian arches of the imagined Wye estate house. 

Beyond the conversation in the painting between these fascinating sitters, another develops around the artist himself, head of the multi-generational clan of painters. Charles was responsible for mentoring his sons and daughters in the art of painting and the business of running the Philadelphian Peale’s Museum. This echoes a hallmark of the Peale family–the practices of teaching and learning, copying and collaboration. Besides the Lloyd portrait, the exhibit features works by his lesser-known brother James Peale, and those of subsequent generations of Peales. Two portraits from the early nineteenth century of du Pont women by Rembrandt Peale invite additional conversations about European art traditions of the past and the contemporary painting trends in Paris embraced by Rembrandt on his many travels abroad. Additionally, a case of small collection objects displays a silhouette from the early 1800s thought to be produced by profile cutter Moses Williams, a formerly enslaved member of the Peale household. 

Another conversation arises from the exhibition around two recent acquisitions by the Museum completed by two female members of the Peale family, Sarah Miriam Peale and Mary Jane Peale, who both remained unmarried to pursue painting professionally. Mary Jane Peale’s Still Life with Fruit highlights her engagement with the Peale tradition of still life painting led by her uncles, Raphaelle and James (fig. 2). Mary Jane arrived at her talents under the mentorship of her Uncle Rembrandt and her cousin, Sarah Miriam. The experiences of Sarah and Mary, both in education and art production, mark important differences between the male and female artists of the family. The gallery interpretation includes a rich array of graphics, either self-portraits by the artists or portraits completed by another family member, illustrating this remarkable and ongoing conversation among the close-knit, generations of Peale artists. In addition, the story of their extraordinary artistic output paints a picture of a changing nation, one full of opportunity and encouragement, but also limitations and challenges.