The Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)

As a new year begins, quiet and unassuming, the snowdrop is the first to brave the frost. Its pale, nodding blooms pierce the frozen ground, a tender symbol of endurance and renewal. For the start of The Flowers of the Months series, I begin with this delicate herald of January — the Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) — as depicted in the late nineteenth-century Old Judge Cigarettes “Flowers” series, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection. This post opens The Flowers of the Months series, a year-long exploration of seasonal blooms as they appear in art, history, and material culture.

These small, chromolithographed cards once came tucked inside cigarette packets, blending commerce and culture in the most unexpected way. Produced by Goodwin & Company in New York, a pioneering tobacco firm active in the late nineteenth century, the Old Judge cards were among the earliest and most artful examples of American advertising ephemera. Founded by George Goodwin, the company was known not only for its popular Old Judge and Gypsy Queen brands but also for its innovative use of collectible trade cards to attract and educate consumers.

The Old Judge cards were more than advertisements; they were miniature works of art. Each one celebrated nature’s beauty through careful color and line, transforming a simple collectible into a pocket-sized lesson in botany and aesthetics. The Snowdrop card captures this perfectly — its soft whites and greens rendered against a wintry blue sky, as if whispering of spring to come.

The Snowdrop itself, Galanthus nivalis, takes its name from the Greek for “milk flower” and the Latin for “of the snow.” Native to Europe and naturalized widely across northern lands, it is among the earliest bulbs to bloom each year. Appearing in January, sometimes through frost and snow, the snowdrop’s slender stems and white petals speak of resilience — fragile in appearance but determined in spirit.

In the language of flowers, beloved in the Victorian era when this card was printed, snowdrops carried meanings of hope, purity, and the promise of renewal. They were tokens of consolation and beginnings — the first sign that light would soon return after the long winter nights. In literature, too, they appear as symbols of endurance and gentle courage. To hold a snowdrop is to hold a small promise: that beauty persists even in hardship.

The Old Judge “Flowers” series reminds us that art and advertising have long been intertwined, teaching and delighting in equal measure. Each card, now preserved in museum collections, connects us to a moment when art found its way into everyday life — not on gallery walls, but in the hands of ordinary people. Through these small images, the love of flowers, seasons, and symbolism bloomed anew.

As January unfolds, the Snowdrop invites us to begin softly, to find strength in quiet persistence, and to look forward to the gentle unfolding of the year ahead.

For a PowerPoint Presentation, titled ‘2026 – 12 Months – 12 Flowers’, please… Click HERE!

Bibliography: from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/400559