Artwork
Still Life with Flowers
Still Life with Flowers is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Balthasar van der Ast. It dates from 1627 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts a lush bouquet of flowers arranged in a glass vase, including roses, tulips, and other blooms, alongside a caterpillar and a lizard.
The painting depicts a lush bouquet of flowers arranged in a glass vase, including roses, tulips, and other blooms, alongside a caterpillar and a lizard. These elements align with the Dutch still-life tradition of florae, where floral arrangements symbolized transience and the fleeting nature of life. The inclusion of insects and small creatures often carried moralizing connotations, suggesting the inevitability of decay and the brevity of beauty.
The 1627 date situates the work within the height of Dutch Golden Age still-life production, where such compositions carried layered meanings of abundance, mortality, and the passage of time.
Technique & Style
Still Life with Flowers is executed in oil paint on panel, a support typical of early seventeenth-century Dutch still-life practice. The composition measures 59 cm in height by 43 cm in width, an upright format suited to a tightly gathered bouquet. The bouquet is rendered as the central motif, populated with roses and tulips and animated by small creatures such as a caterpillar and a lizard, motifs characteristic of Balthasar van der Ast's floral paintings.
The work is classified as a still life in the floral painting genre and is held in the Rijksmuseum collection.
The handling reflects the artist's specialization in cabinet-scale floral arrangements, with the bouquet and its accompanying insects and reptiles arranged to display both botanical variety and naturalistic detail. The panel support and oil medium allow for the fine, precise brushwork associated with this genre.
History & Provenance
Created in 1627, Still Life with Flowers is an oil painting on panel by Balthasar van der Ast. The work depicts a floral arrangement featuring roses, tulips, a caterpillar, and a lizard. Its provenance traces to the collection of Arnoldus Andries des Tombe. The piece is currently held by the Rijksmuseum.
Overview
Balthasar van der Ast's Still Life with Flowers, painted in 1627, is an oil painting characteristic of the Dutch Golden Age. The artwork features a detailed floral arrangement, complemented by various small creatures and natural elements. Van der Ast, who specialized in still lifes throughout his career until his death in 1657, was a significant figure in this genre. This particular work is housed in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
Context
Born in Middelburg around 1593/94, Balthasar van der Ast established himself as a leading still life painter during the Dutch Golden Age. His artistic output consistently focused on arrangements of flowers, fruits, and shells. His innovative practice of incorporating insects and other small creatures into his botanical compositions was a distinctive contribution that helped shape the development of the still life genre during this period.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Balthasar van der Ast (Middelburg, 1593/94 – Delft, 7 March 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in still lifes of flowers and fruit, as well as painting a number of remarkable shell still lifes; he is…
