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Monday
Mar092020

Spring Ahead! Rachel Ruysch

DateMonday, March 9, 2020 at 8:00AM

Rachel Ruysch - Still-Life of Flowers - 1695 - Oil on canvas, 32 x 26 cm - Private collection (click photo for larger image)Dutch Baroque era painter Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) was successful for nearly 70 years as a specialist in flower paintings. Ruysch’s maternal grandfather, Pieter Post, was an important architect, and her father, Frederik Ruysch, an eminent scientist. From him, she learned how to observe and record nature with great accuracy. At 15, she was apprenticed to the well-known Dutch flower painter Willem van Aelst. From that point on, she produced various kinds of still lifes, mainly flower pieces and woodland scenes.

The work featured here shows a still-life of flowers with a nosegay of roses, marigolds, larkspur, a bumblebee and other insects. The artist's father was a celebrated professor of botany and anatomy, his cabinet of curiosities (“wunderkammern”) a popular destination for visiting dignitaries. Access to such collections of preserved specimens would have enabled careful examination of insects and moths, which Rachel Ruysch executes with scientific precision in paintings such as this one.

AuthorJill | CommentPost a Comment |

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