Bouquet of Flowers and Fruit with Blue Ribbon
c. 1680
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
36 × 28.3 cm (14 1/4 × 11 1/8 in.); Framed: 49.3 × 41.3 × 6.7 cm (19 3/8 × 16 1/4 × 2 5/8 in.)
Classification
still life
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
264716
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This seemingly straightforward scene by Maria van Oosterwijck, one of the few known female painters in the Dutch Republic, in fact depicts a fantastical image. The 11 species of flora, accompanied by a single grasshopper and hung from a nail by a ribbon, do not all blossom in the same season. Additionally, several of these varieties are not indigenous to Northern Europe. The arrangement thus reflects the global markets in which the Dutch participated: the sweet sultan (the orange flower at upper...