Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) was a Dutch artist. She was renowned for her still lifes featuring flowers and insects, and she gradually transitioned to painting “forest floors”, described as “gloomy, haunting scenes where lizards, frogs, and butterflies occupy dark woodland settings”. In an era when women were expected to stay at home, Ruysch became a renowned artist and continued painting into her eighties. I was fascinated by an incredibly amazing painting called “Still Life of Exotic Flowers on a Marble Ledge”, which documents the history of the Dutch colonial period when these exotic flowers were brought back to Europe. This painting features flowers from five continents. I globally found the paintings too dark but the representations of the flowers are perfect.
“This flower painting, more permanent
Than fine spring blossoms,
May keep its beauty without wilting;
It lives on even through strong frost;
No storm of strong winds
Can ever diminish its sparkling glow.”
Sara Maria van der Wilp 1749