Layers of Change: Materiality and Symbolism in Edward Onslow Ford’s Snowdrift

Edward Onslow Ford’s (1852-1901) Snowdrift, a haunting vision of an emaciated woman asleep (or dead) on a blanket of snow is sometimes viewed as a personification of winter. Nonetheless, as the body appears to melt into the snow, it meets a slab of green onyx, representing spring. Through a combination white marble, black marble, green onyx, and lapis lazuli, Ford utilizes these materials to symbolize seasons, elements, and humanity. This paper analyses Ford’s use of these materials and symbols to convey a message of death, renewal and the power of stone to facilitate changes and correlate Ford’s work with the alchemical principles and symbolism.