#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
During the 17th century, the Dutch Republic was the most prosperous and influential in Europe, leading the way in science, trade, and art.Still Life, with Flowers, Abraham Mignon pic.twitter.com/Sr37H3xLoh
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
During the Reformation, the break with Catholicism and Catholic-sponsored religious art, meant that Dutch painters had to “re-invent” Dutch art.Still Life with Flowers in a Vase, Ambrosius Bosschaert pic.twitter.com/rdrPaXxzPT
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
The re-invention of Dutch art, which freed artists from the religious themes rigidly required by the Catholic Church, influenced future artists.Flowers in a Vase, Ambrosius Bosschaert pic.twitter.com/4tvVD1Aa13
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Dutch Golden Age painting developed several very distinct genres: landscapes, portraits, genre scenes (such as tavern or home scenes), seascapes, and still lifes.Still Life, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger pic.twitter.com/0WvN9FUkYy
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Flower paintings became a distinct sub-genre of still life paintings in the Dutch Golden Age.Still Life with Flowers, Insects, and a Shell, Maria van Oosterwijck pic.twitter.com/Dt0s3ucA4d
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Still lifes afforded artists the opportunity to display their painting technique because it involved portraying intricate textures and realistic lighting.Fruit and Flowers, Balthasar van der Ast pic.twitter.com/qd8aIIRRpL
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Dutch Golden Age flower paintings became the specialty of a few women painters, including Rachel Ruysch and Maria van Oosterwijck.Still Life with Flowers in a Decorative Vase, Maria van Oosterwijck pic.twitter.com/VpIotL2nRR
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Painters like Rachel Ruysch were famed for flower still lifes, which displayed flowers in minute, realistic detail even though flowers from different seasons appeared in the same work.Still Life with Flowers, Rachel Ruysch pic.twitter.com/cVcfwrBEgd
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Rachel Ruysch learned to artistically arrange flowers of different seasons into a more natural composition.Basket of Flowers, Rachel Ruysch pic.twitter.com/nTbGOdFe4L
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Because flowers die in our lifetime, still lifes with flowers were considered part of the Vanitas paintings, whose symbolic message was that life is short, man must die.Still Life with Flowers and a Watch, William van Aelst pic.twitter.com/hewaanBLqq
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Flower still lifes were typically portrayed against a dark background during the Dutch Golden Age.Tulips in a Vase, Hans Boulenger pic.twitter.com/k8QbZ680C1
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Just as the Breakfast Pieces or dinner tables portrayed foods only the wealthy could afford, flower still lifes featured flower arrangements only the wealthy could have in their homes.Flowers and Fruit, Jan Davidsz de Heem pic.twitter.com/f090ab1IJ3
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Flower arrangements in vases, such as those portrayed in these still lifes, were not common in reality: even the wealthy would not have had such flowers arrangements in their homes.Vase of Flowers, Jan Davidsz de Heem pic.twitter.com/JTGBiivllP
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Even the most wealthy commonly displayed only single flowers in a vase.Tulip and Rose on a Mantle, Jan Baptist van Fornenburgh pic.twitter.com/UPlMCcR00q
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Ambrosius Bosschaert and his brother-in-law, Balthasar van der Ast, pioneered both paintings featuring shells and those featuring flowers.Tulip, Balthasar van der Ast pic.twitter.com/z2oyiWk6qH
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Early flower still lifes featured lighter backgrounds, but the dark backgrounds became more fashionable later.Still Life, Jan van Kessel
(features oysters, game, dog, birds, fruit, flowers, and Delft-vase) pic.twitter.com/DK5XsxWXxY— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Earlier flower still lifes featured fewer flowers arranged in a more natural way; later paintings featured more extravagant arrangements.Still Life with Flowers, Jean Joseph-Xavier Bidauld pic.twitter.com/T2itk8QR01
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
The more extravagant arrangements against darker backgrounds became popular with the wealthy art patrons.Still Life with Flowers, Fruit, and Delft Vases, Jan van Kessel pic.twitter.com/kDOgyguOC8
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Wealthy art patrons commissioned paintings: the artists, who wished to make a living & to produce art, conformed to popular taste, such as darker backgrounds.Still Life with Roses & Poppies on a Stone Ledge, Rachel Ruysch pic.twitter.com/z6f8LeNxcx
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Sometimes, the artists included skulls in the still lifes with flowers, to more directly portray the symbolic Vanitas (all men must die) message.Still Life with Sunflower and Skull, Maria van Oosterwijck pic.twitter.com/8etgCVU3sW
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Vanitas still lifes reminded viewers that life is short and all men must die, i.e., all men, even those wealthy enough to commission artwork, must die.Still Life with Globe, Skull, and Flowers, Maria van Oosterwijck pic.twitter.com/jdJuWB0544
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Almost all of the still lifes during this period were simply named “Still Lifes” (sometimes “Still Life with Flowers”), and often the artists used the same flowers in different works.Still Life with Flowers, Rachel Ruysch pic.twitter.com/pjdCvxl8Cb
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019
#ArtSaturday Dutch Golden Age Still Lifes with Flowers
Though 18-19th century critics sometimes denounced Dutch Golden Age still life painters for “artificial compositions,” these painters won respect for their talent in later ages.Still Life with Flowers, Maria van Oosterijck pic.twitter.com/IQFuD4SN19
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman Award-Winning #Author 📚🖋🎃 (@Alexandria_SZ) October 5, 2019