Rachel Ruysch
Today is International Women's Day!
As you can see, in March, we focus especially on the masterpieces created by women. We hope you enjoy our selections. Today, we would like to show you a beautiful bouquet of flowers by Rachel Ruysch, who was a still-life painter from the Dutch Republic. She specialized in flowers, developing her own style and achieving international acclaim during her lifetime. Because of a long and successful career spanning six decades, she became the best-documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.
The inscription "Aet[atis] 79" in the upper-left corner indicates that Ruysch painted this still life at the age of 79. By this stage in her career, she had turned to more intimate formats and adopted a lighter, more delicate palette. The composition is organized around three prominent blossoms—white, pink, and red roses alongside poppy anemones—which command the viewer’s attention.
For the small forget-me-nots on the left, Ruysch employed Prussian blue, a pigment recently discovered and far more affordable than traditional blues such as ultramarine. She was among the first Dutch artists to embrace this new color, incorporating it into her work as early as 1715, and here it subtly enriches the painting’s freshness and modernity.
P.S. Don’t miss our Women’s Day Sale — only until midnight, get 15% off the Women Artists 50 Postcards Set and Feel Frida Socks.
P.P.S. Explore Rachel Ruysch's brilliance through 5 masterpieces! If you're interested in getting to know other female artists contemporary to her, here are 10 women of the Dutch Golden Age!