Hiram Green Arcadia photo by Hiram Green©

And by clear springs, in sacred myrtle groves,

Heaven’s flocks agrazing, whence

Scornfully thou dost cast earth’s troubles hence.

Now other hills and plains,

And other streams and groves,

And fresher flowers thou seest in the sky;

Down peaceful summer lanes

Moved by more passionate loves,

By other Fauns pursued the Nymphs flit by;

Where shadows softly lie

And fragrance is distilled,

Daphne and Meliboeus nigh,

Androgeus sings, the sky

Burdening with tender sweets, while stirred and stilled

The winds are by the sound

Of unaccustomed accents wafted round. Arcadia, Joseph Sannazaro, 1504

 

The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State by Thomas Cole, 1836

 Although Joseph Sannazaro’s Arcadia is little known to readers today and its writer largely forgotten, few poems have had as much enduring influence on not only their contemporaries but on centuries of artists and writers including Shakespeare, Titian, and Vivaldi. Many of Sannazaro’s artistic successors portrayed Arcadia – historically, part of the Greek Peloponnese – as a lost bucolic paradise populated by shepherds and gentle beasts. But Sannazaro’s Arcadia becomes by poem’s end a metaphor for the magical eternal nowhere, whose existence depends entirely on human imagination. As such, this paradise can be lost or found only by the search of our own hearts.

Hiram Green at the launch of Hiram Green Arcadia May 6, 2022 at 7scents in Budapest © 7scents

Appropriately, natural perfumer Hiram Green (winner of the 2019 Art & Olfaction award in the artisan category for HYDE ) roots his new fragrance, Arcadia, in that most utopian of fragrance families, the fougere, an evocation of fern, a plant that yields no intrinsic fragrance.  Hiram Green Arcadia is meant to conjure an “idyllic, unspoiled wilderness babbling brooks meander through mountains covered in dense forests” where “lush undergrowth … covers the forest floor … and fragrant flowers bask in the sunlight and their sweet scent intertwines with the fresh green smell of the foliage.”

Painting by Marko via Wikimedia Commons; enhanced by the brand

Hiram Green Arcadia is so heady in its initial stages that it seems more jungle than pastoral, a wild tangle of viny leaves and damp soil. Dabbing on Arcadia, the first sensation is one of denseness, of green overgrowth crowding out the sun. The first moments are thick with French lavender – herbal, dusky, like black licorice wrapped around pine trees. Bergamot comes in right beside it, not with its usual sunny splash of citrus but as a contrasting fruity bitterness. Patchouli and rose race each other to join the two top notes, each providing a distinctive quality: the patchouli is deeply woody, its odor both damp and parched, like an old, varnished trinket box kept forgotten in a cellar. It fills out the center of the fragrance with a sensation of forest floor. Green’s marketing copy describes the rose as “shading,” but I find it pronounced. It threads a silky lushness into the fragrance, which is later heightened by jasmine, and sets the stage for the creamy sweetness of tonka bean.

All the while, the backdrop to Hiram Green Arcadia colours in shades of green and umber as resins add heft. Spices, including what I take to be a particularly spiky pepper, add bright dabs and reawaken the bergamot. Unusually for a fougere, Hiram Green Arcadia brightens as its wears, the patchouli and lavender making way for the floral notes, spice and fruit that weave in and out like the faraway pitch of Pan’s flute.

An Evening in Arcadia 1843 Thomas Cole Wikiart

An hour later, I am walking in the oozy heat of Washington summertime, Arcadia on each arm. While one might think that such opaque greenery might clash with the torpor, surprisingly Arcadia blossoms in the heat. The bergamot becomes sharper, the lavender more herbal. It curls around my wrists like green smoke. And, if I close my eyes against the hazy June sun, there’s a thicket of ferns just down the street and a field of lavender waiting around the corner. Someone is singing a childhood song, and nearby, a fountain gossips with the trees: Arcadia.

Notes: Bergamot, lavender, jasmine, rose, spices, resins, tonka bean, aged patchouli, New Caledonian sandalwood.

Disclaimer: Sample of Hiram Green Arcadia kindly provided by Indigo Perfumery. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Bottle of Hiram Green Arcadia courtesy of Ann from Indigo©

We have two bottles of Hiram Green Arcadia

Thanks to the generosity of Indigo Perfumery, we have a 50 ml bottle Hiram Green Arcadia for one registered reader in the U.S. only

And from our friends at 7Scents, a fabulous perfume boutique in Budapest we have a 50 ml bottle of Hiram Green Arcadia for one registered reader in the E.U. only

Thanks to. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Hiram Green Arcadia based on Lauryn’s review and whether you’ve tried any Hiram Green fragrances and where you live. Draw closes 6/29/2022.

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