American Folk Art and American Folk Culture: Heritage Sculpture's American Folk panel, 'Tree of Life'

Tree of Life

Biblical Image

19th century ~ American Folk

This image, so popular in early American folk art, is evocative both of biblical references and icons of the French and American revolutions as a symbol of victory, i.e. the Liberty Tree.

Revelations 22
1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Symbolic of life or immortality, the tree is mentioned in the book of Genesis and the book of Revelation in the Bible: the Tree of Life produces the fruit that will reward the faithful. In addition, the twelve fruit of the tree symbolize the scattered tribes of Israel.

Trees are universal symbols of life and generational growth. In Norse mythology, the gods formed man of an alder tree and woman of an ash. Trees are also used as symbols of ancestry with the original ancestor as the root and the various descendants as branches on the genealogical tree. In medieval legends, the allegorical tree was often referred to as the Tree of Mercy.

Other popular names for this symbol are the Tree of Heaven, The Tree of Knowledge, Tree of Buddha or Bo Tree, Tree of Chastity and the Tree of Paradise.

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