Rusych's Flowers

RACHEL RUSYCH'S FLOWERPIECE (AFTER 1700)

On the outside seems just a simple still of a floral arrangement but the more you ponder the painting, the more you wonder if this piece is commenting on much deeper and valuable topics in society. This peace depicts a profusion of accurate floral details. Each petal, stem, and leaf is minutely and precisely portrayed. The textures seem remarkably realistic. There are poppy petals that look delicately thin. You can just imagine being in front of all the crinkly, brittle leaves. Looking closer still, we see that Ruysch has also meticulously depicted tiny insects: a caterpillar crawls on a stem, a bee gathers pollen from the center of a poppy, a white butterfly rests on a marigold. There is also a lush variety of different flowers. Ruysch combines a complex arrangement of poppies, snapdragons, roses, carnations, hollyhocks, marigolds, morning glories and a single red and white flamed tulip. Furthermore, the flowers are spilling over the face and filling out the canvas' space. In the spaces where flowers aren't available the artist uses the space to highlight the light pattern. Some of the flowers are in full bloom, others are droopy and wilting. It's unique to see the leaves and curving stems throughout. The way the flowers are asymmetrically arranged leads the eye diagonally from the lower left drooping marigold to the upper right red poppy. Our eye is first attracted to the lightest flowers in the center, then to the brightly colored surrounding flowers, and finally out to the small darker flowers at the edges of the bouquet. The colors in this piece create a peaceful power, as warm yellows and rose balance cool blues and greens.The was the shadows are cast, enliven the lit flowers as they stand out dramatically against the darker background. Furthermore, if you analyze each of these flowers through this piece you can tell, with the variety and some flower being wilted and some being in the dark, there are surely comments about humanity intertwined into this piece.