Drawing viewers to a bouquet of fully bloomed luminating flowers, Dutch painter Rachel Ruysh (Figure 1) illustrated detailed visual talents and hidden allegories in her floral still life oil painting, Flower Still-Life (figure 1). Made in 1726, Ruysh’s work depicts a large bouquet of flowers and foliages that looks almost excessively packed as if it is spilling out of the small round vase. Despite drooping flowers and untamed stems and leaves, the bouquet looks as if it is methodically arranged based on colour and composition. The viewer first sets their eyes at the center of the bouquet as white and pink blooming flowers pop out from the dark leaves and stems around them. Surrounding the center arrangement are smaller flowers that blend with the dark green foliage. At the background of the bouquet, there is a dim light green wall that slowly gets brighter revealing the wall’s edge. The gradience successfully dramatizes the entire bouquet while emphasizing the brightness of the flowers. The smaller flowers varied from blue, white, purple and orange and placed sporadically around the bouquet to compliment the white and red hues of the large flowers. This emphasizes the vibrant Baroque colour palette that was well known during that time. 

The work looks almost playful with its organic shapes, which slowly reveal smaller hidden details. Ruysch’s extensive attention to detail is shown on the canvas as she includes a small caterpillar crawling on the stem of the orange flower, and decaying leaves with holes that indicate pests. Each petal, stem and leaves is carefully composed accurately, making the arrangement look very naturalistic. The artist’s delicate brush work gives a sense of elegance to the entire canvas. There is a sense of asymmetry and imbalance in the composition as the right side of the canvas shows a peak of the edge of the wall and table. Despite the beautiful subject matter and playful composition, there are contradicting elements in the canvas that allude to something ominous. Previously pointed out, the edge of the wall and table as well as the decaying flowers reveal elements of the Dutch still-life genre vanitas, a symbolic gesture to remind the viewer of their mortality and pointlessness of pursuing materialistic desires. Defined in Lexico dictionary, politics is “principles relating to or inherent in a sphere or activity, especially when concerned with power and status.” The painting has a subconscious ideological message that is similar to how the flowers hide the obvious signs of decay. As a reminder to lessen one’s desire for worldly pleasures and goods, Flower Still-Life echoes a political ideology as it wants the rising middle and upper class to not be as concerned with their own power and status. During the time and context of the painting, a common moral message was that power, status and its indicators — such as money, material goods, beauty, pleasure— is tempting, but ultimately ephemeral in the face of death. This idea was developed through the influence of Calvinism, a reformed Christian ideology that was popular at the time, which emphasizes the current degradation of humanity and a need to adhere to a strict moral code emphasized by the Bible. During this era, Calvinist religious authority had major influences over the politics of the state and moral control of Dutch society. As the middle class was rising due to trade with Asia, they were able to afford paintings, and was beginning to be concerned with achieving social status and power like the established upper class. The church was worried that their material gains may take away their principles on a righteous and greed-less life. Due to the church’s political influence due to their position, Vanitas began to flourish in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. Ruysch, well known for vanitas, used her painting to remind her viewer everything is temporary, including their own earthly lives, through her painting. While the frame of the canvas contains the subject of the flowers, Ruysch also shows a hint of background, the edge of a wall. The table where the bouquet is placed is also shown with just its corner. These elements reveal there is something beyond what the canvas shows, as this painting is just a fragment of a bigger world. The fully bloomed bouquet captures the viewer’s attention with its detail and colour, and indicates beauty and abundance. However, Ruysch hints that this state of existence does not last; as the flowers are in the process of decaying, with their heads pointing down and brittle brown leaves partially eaten by insects are hidden in the back. These details show flaws in the bouquet, showing that beautiful appearances do not last forever. Ruysch uses her paintings to point out the vanity of ordinary people, and how they can easily be consumed by the pursuit of social and political status. By opposing a material life that has no meaning, Ruysch advocates for a more purposeful life to her viewers and society. Her subtle commentary on society through her work becomes political as she challenges her viewers to remember their mortality and the emptiness of worldly pursuits. 

Bibliography: 

Esaak, Shelley. “Why Did Artists Paint Skulls in a Still Life?” ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, October 17, 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/vanitas-painting-definition-183179.

“Politics: Meaning of Politics by Lexico.” Lexico Dictionaries | English. Lexico Dictionaries. Accessed February 11, 2020. https://www.lexico.com/definition/politics.

Rachel Ruysch, Still life with flowers in a glass vase, 1716, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 39.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

“Ruysch, Flower Still-Life (Article).” Khan Academy. Khan Academy. Accessed February 13, 2020.https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/holland/a/ruysch-flower-still-life.