Flowers in a Glass Vase

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Flowers in a Glass Vase

Artist Daniel Seghers (Flemish, 1590-1661)

Place of OriginBelgium, Flanders

Date1635

DimensionsH: 32 1/16 in. (81.2 cm); W: 20 3/8 in. (51.7 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

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

Object number

1953.85

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 22

Label TextDaniel Seghers’ stunning panel—his earliest known signed and dated painting—is remarkable for its realistic detail, from the transparent glass vase to dewdrops on the petals. But the painting is also a composition of deliberate artifice: the vase of flowers would be too top-heavy to stand on its own, and the flowers depicted would not all have been in bloom at the same time. The bouquet includes roses, a branch of orange blossoms, a splendid striped tulip, and four irises, each of a different hue. A butterfly and three caterpillars have apparently been brought inside with the cut flowers. Seghers was a lay brother in the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church, and many of his floral paintings contain symbolic content related to his faith. Here, the flowers may refer to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. For example, the iris is the flower of the Virgin and alludes to her as Queen of Heaven. Roses symbolize love, and the Virgin is sometimes referred to as the “rose without thorns.” Orange blossoms were associated with purity, and likewise, tulips could symbolize virginity.Published ReferencesHairs, M., Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Paris, 1955, pp. 60-61, 72, 75, 77, 238, pl. 21, no. 638.

Martin, John R., "Review of M. L. Hairs Book, Les Peintures Flamands de Fleurs au XVIIe Siècle," Art Bulletin, vol. XXXIX, no. 4, Dec. 1957, p. 319.

Bazin, G., A Gallery of Flowers, London, 1960, pp. 102-105, repr.

Fernandez, S. A., "En torno a Daniel Seghers," Archivo Español de Art, vol. XXXIII, 1960, p. 74.

Burke-Gaffney, M., S. J., Daniel Seghers (1590-1661), New York, 1961, p. 15, repr.

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 468, repr. fig. 5.

Hubala, Erich, Die Kunst des 17, Jahrhunderts, (Propyläen Kunstgeschichte, Bd. 9), Berlin, 1970, p. 176, repr. Abb. 134.

Mitchell, P., European Flower Painters, London, 1973, p. 234.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 150, pl. 104.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 53.

Kock, Erich, Du Grund unserer Freude: ein Marienbuch, Limburg, 1979, pp. 14, 133, repr. (col.).

Hairs, Marie-Louise, Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe, siècle, Bruxelles, 1985, p. 134, fig. 34, p. 131.

Flemish Paintings in America, Antwerp, 1992, repr. p. 367.

Merriam, Susan, Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings: Still Life, Vision, and the Devotional Image, Farnham, Surrey, UK, England: Ashgate, 2011, p. 109, pl. XXV (col.).

Exhibition HistoryBoston Museum of Fine Arts; Toledo Museum of Art, The Age of Rubens, 1993-1994, no. 98, pp. 507, 509, repr. (col.) p. 508.