“Vase of Flowers”, a painting created by Rachel Ruysch in 1689, is the piece I have selected. At first glance the big white bloom in the center of the painting is what caught my eye. The rest of the bouquet was almost hidden in the dark background. It wasn’t until my second look that I noticed the insects and all of the other flowers. After a longer look the white bloom seemed to fade as my eyes moved around the rest of the painting. The presence of the insects and the overall darkness was the most interesting to me. The darkness brings an unexpected gloom and woeful mystery, while the insects gave life to the painting.
Rachel Ruysch was born June 3, 1664 in The Hague, Netherlands and later moved with her family to Amsterdam where she was raised. One of twelve children, she was born into a wealthy and prominent family, which had artistic roots. Many of her relatives, like her maternal grandfather, specialized in painting nature and landscapes, influenced her work. Ruysch’s father who was a well-known professor of anatomy and botany, as well as an amateur painter, observed and recorded nature, textually and graphically, with a high degree of accuracy, a skill he instilled in his daughter and greatly influencing her future work. Some of her earliest drawings included scientific studies of insects and flowers (“Ruysch” 341-343). During her apprenticeship with Dutch flower painter Willem van Aelst when she was fifteen years old, Ruysch began producing various still life paintings, mostly flowers and woodland scenes, that “…followed the dramatically lit woodland scenes of the Dutch painter of the previous generation” (Atkins 294-295; “Ruysch” 341-343). “Ruysch studied with van Aelst until he died in 1683, but her earliest paintings began appearing around 1680. By the time she was eighteen she was turning out independently signed paintings and was on her way to establishing a successful career” (“Ruysch” 341-343). Practicing her art in the Baroque...