Vase with Flowers

Rachel Ruysch painted Vase with Flowers around 1700, at the height of a career that made her the most famous flower painter of her time, court painter to the Elector Palatine. Roses, tulips, morning glory, and other blooms spill from a glass vase against a dark ground, each petal and leaf rendered with botanical precision and a rich play of light. Ruysch’s mastery of the genre, unusual for a woman of her era, earned her international renown that lasted long after her death.