Flower Still Life

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Flower Still Life

Artist Rachel Ruysch Dutch, 1664-1750

Dateabout 1716-1720

DimensionsPainting: 29 3/4 × 23 7/8 in. (75.6 × 60.6 cm)
Frame: 37 × 31 1/2 × 3 in. (94 × 80 × 7.6 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1956.57

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesSmith, J., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London, VI, no. 17.

Hofstede de Groot, C., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, London, X, no. 57.

Grant, M.H., Rachel Ruysch, 1664-1750, Leigh-on-Sea, 1956, p. 32, no. 75, pl. 4.

Lindesmith, K., "The Good Things in Life," Toledo Museum of Art News, vol. 1, no. 3, Fall 1957, pp. 16-18, repr. p. 18.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, Oct.-Dec. 1957," Art Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, Spring 1958, p. 85.

Connoisseur, vol. 142. no. 571, August 1958, p. 64.

Wittman, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, December 1967, p. 474, repr. fig 17, p. 473.

Mitchell, P., European Flower Painters, London, 1973, p. 224, fig. 318.

Fundaburk, Emma Lila, and Thomas G. Davenport, Art in Public Places in the United States, Bowling Green, 1975, repr. no. 197, p. 166.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 148, pl. 144.

Harris, Ann Sutherland, Women Artists: 1550-1950, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976, no. 39, p. 160, repr. p. 159.

Slatkin, Wendy, Women Artists in History, Englewood Cliffs, 1985, p. 64, fig. 22.

McVaugh, Robert, Abstraction, Non-Objectivity, and Realism: Twentieth-Century Painting from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Hamilton, NY, 1987, repr. p. 48.

Heller, Nancy G., Women Artists, An Illustrated History, New York, 1987, p. 41, pl. 25 (col.).

Bryson, Norman, Looking at the Overlooked, London, 1990, fig. 37, p. 107.

Chadwick, Whitney, Women, Art, and Society, London, 1990, p. 126, pl. 61 (col.).

Hurwitz, Al and Michael Day, Children and Their Art, 6th ed., Fort Worth, 1995, p. 185, repr. (col.).

Janson, Horst Woldemar, History of Art, 5th ed., New York, 1995, p. 585, fig. 802 (col.).

Stokstad, Marilyn, Art History, New York, 1995, pp. 799-800, fig. 19-61 (col.).

Marquardt-Cherry, Janet, Object of Personal Significance, Kansas City, MO, 1996, repr. p. 14 (col.), [not in exhibition].

Grieder, Terence, Artist and Audience, 2nd ed., Madison, WI, 1996, p. 48, fig. 2.7.

Remer, Abby, Pioneering Spirits, Worcester, MA, 1997, pp. 39-40, fig. 3-6.

Wilkins, David G. et al., Art Past, Art Present, 3rd ed., New York, 1997, p. 385, fig, 7-42 (col.).

Martin, Elizabeth, Female Gazes: Seventy-Five Women Artists, Toronto, 1997, p. 24, repr. (col.).

Kagan, Donald et al., The Western Heritage, 7th ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2001, p. 485, repr. (col.).

Slatkin, Wendy, Women Artists in History: From Antiquity to the Present, 4th ed., Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall, 2001, pp. 101-102, fig. 9-4.

Michel, Marianne Roland, The Floral Art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Greenwich, CT, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, 2002, no. 1, p. 8, repr. (col.). p. 37.

Richner-Rathus, Lois, Understanding Art, 7th ed., Belmont, CA, Wadsworth/Thomson, 2004, p. 56, repr. (col.).

Jones, Jane, Classic Still Life Painting: A Contemporary Master Shows How to Achieve Old Master Effects using Today's Art Materials, New York, Watson-Guptill, 2004, p. 12, repr. (col.) p. 13.

Sperre, Dennis J., The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts, Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall, 2005, p. 387, fig. 12.16 (col.).

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael W. Cothren, Art: A Brief History, 3rd edition, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007, p. 414, fig. 14-36 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 200, repr. (col.).

Davies, Pamela E.J., et al., Janson's Basic History of Western Art, Upper Saddle River, Pearson Education, 2009, repr. (col.) p. 422.

Richner-Rathus, Lois, Understanding Art, 9th ed., Belmont, CA, Wadsworth/Thomson, 2010, p. 54, repr. (col.).

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael W. Cothren, Art: A Brief History, Fourth Edition, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010, p. 408, fig. 14-30 (col.).

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael W. Cothern, Art: A Brief History, 5th edition, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, 2012, p. 394, p. 396, fig. 14-29, (col.).

Davies, Penelope J.E., et al., Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition , Reissued Eighth Edition, Boston, Pearson Education, 2016, p. 730, repr. (col.) fig. 20.32, p. 730.

Stokstad, Marilyn and Michael W. Cothren, Art History: Sixth Edition, Laurence King Publishing for Pearson Education, 2017, p.768 repr. (col.).

Codart, 100 Masterpieces of Old Dutch and Flemish Art, Lannoo, April 1, 2021, p. 212, repr. (col.), p. 213

Exhibition HistoryLondon, British Institution, 1832, no. 54.

London, British Institution, 1855, no. 68.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Women Artists: 1550-1950, 1976, no. 39.

Greenwich, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Floral Art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 2002-2003, no. 1. Munich, Germany, Alte Pinakothek; Toledo, OH, Toledo Museum of Art; Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art, November 26, 2024-December 7, 2025.

Label TextAgainst a dark background, in the style of flower painting from the second half of the seventeenth century, Rachel Ruysch composed a lush floral arrangement, including many flowers that would never actually bloom at the same time. Among this array of blossoming and wilting plants, a closer look reveals caterpillars crawling along the stem of a flower and browning leaves riddled with holes made by hungry insects. Such vivid details suggest the fragility of the arrangement, even alluding to the fact that beauty fades and all living things must die. Ruysch was the daughter of a professor of anatomy and botany, and likely became familiar with plants through him. By age fifteen she was studying with the still-life artist Willem van Aelst. From this background of scientific and artistic studies, she learned to capture the essence of nature in her own flower paintings. The most famous female painter in the Golden Age of Dutch art, Ruysch enjoyed an international reputation over a career that lasted almost seven decades.