En vase med blomster 1780 - 1841

C.D. Fritzsch created this oil painting of a vase with flowers sometime between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period when the genre of still life was gaining traction. In Northern Europe, particularly, flower paintings spoke to a culture of both scientific discovery and commercial expansion. As the Dutch and other Europeans traversed the globe, botany became a fashionable pursuit for the elite and the middle class. Institutions like botanical gardens and museums flourished. But the paintings also reflected an interest in trade; they allowed people to visualize, possess, and study flowers that were rare and expensive. The imagery here creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations, which can be revealed by looking at the artist's other work, exhibition records, and the rise of the still life as a popular genre. The meaning of this artwork, as with any artwork, is contingent on its social and institutional context.