Roses, Tulips, Ranunculus and Other Flowers in a Glass Vase, with Plums 1704

Rachel Ruysch made this painting of flowers and fruit in oil on canvas, sometime in the late 17th or early 18th century. Floral painting was a popular genre in the Dutch Golden Age, and Ruysch was one of its leading practitioners. The material qualities of oil paint, with its capacity for layering and subtle blending, allowed her to create incredibly lifelike and detailed depictions of her subjects. Notice the textures, colors and forms of the various flowers – roses, tulips, ranunculus – each rendered with meticulous attention. This kind of still life also reflects the social context of the time, with the Dutch Republic at the height of its wealth and power. Flowers like tulips were luxury goods, and paintings like this one were a way for the wealthy to display their refined taste. The intense labor required for such paintings elevated them from mere representations to valuable objects in their own right, further emphasizing the distinction between artistry and craft. Ultimately, understanding the materials, processes, and context behind an artwork like this allows us to move beyond simplistic divisions between ‘high art’ and ‘craft’, and appreciate the full complexity of artistic creation.