Jan Davidsz de Heem
At first glance, this seems like a beautiful but overall simple bouquet ... but there is a lot more going on! Besides flowers, we can see many small animals crawling over the painting. There is a snail in the bottom right and a butterfly in the top left, a caterpillar on the stalk of the anemone, and a spider hanging from its string on the right. The ones that immediately catch our eye are the garden snail and the tiny ants that are crawling up and into the rose petals in the center, one of the elements that really brings the painting to life. By adding these real insects into the painting, the painter made this bouquet into a living object. It is not just a static bouquet, but there’s life all around it. It invited the animals into the flowers with the scent they give off.
The Utrecht-born Jan Davidsz. de Heem moved to Antwerp in 1636. There, under the influence of Flemish masters, he specialized in painting sumptuous still lifes and festoons. Although his attention to detail recalls his Utrecht teacher, Balthasar van der Ast, the exuberance and richness of color are more characteristic of the Flemish.
It is the last week of our special month with the floral still lifes of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam! A special month means we will have a special focus on the museum's collection in the app and on our social media. We hope you enjoyed it. :)
P.S. Love discovering the tiny details hidden among the flowers? Our Flowers in Art 50 Postcards Set is filled with beautiful floral masterpieces from different periods and countries; it is perfect for sending a little piece of art to someone you love! :)
P.P.S. Tiny critters can be found in many famous artworks! Discover the crawly creatures hidden in old paintings!