Details

Object type

painting

Title

An Arrangement of Flowers by a Tree Trunk

Artist/Maker

Rachel Ruysch artist

Culture/School

Dutch

Place Associated

Netherlands, Amsterdam (place of manufacture)

Date

circa 1683

Materials

oil on canvas

Dimensions

framed: 1186 x 865 x 130 mm; unframed: 937 mm x 711 mm

Description

Paintings of flowers had a long and distinguished history in Dutch art but this kind of flower piece, which incorporates animals and insects in a woodland setting, was a 17th century invention. Otto Marseus van Schrieck (circa 1619–78) was the first to paint this type of picture in Amsterdam and Ruysch adopted the subject-matter in her early years as a painter.

Indeed, this painting, which probably dates from the 1680s, is so close in subject to Marseus van Schrieck’s works that some art historians have suggested in the past that it might have been painted by him. Most recent research however attributes it to Ruysch. The painting looks very realistic but it is certainly the product of the artist’s imagination. Not all the flowers would necessarily have been in bloom at the same time and the proportionate sizes of the plants and insects are not accurate. Eight different kinds of butterflies flit around the arrangement; far more than would have been found in this woodland setting. Every part is nevertheless closely observed and the textures of the flowers are accurately captured.

The artist has used some unusual techniques to render other surfaces. The lizard’s skin was painted and a piece of cloth pressed on to it whilst the paint was wet to give low relief pattern and to create the moss the artist probably used a sponge.

Credit Line/Donor

Archibald McLellan Collection, purchased, 1856

Collection

Archibald McLellan Collection

ID Number

45

Location

Out on Loan