Still Life; Bosschaert, Meléndez, and Peale

Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase, 1621, oil on copper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund and New Century Fund 1996.35.1

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Dutch, 1573-1621

Dutch painters of the seventeenth century were quick to embrace still life and soon became famous for their skill at creating the illusion of reality. Ambrosius Bosschaert was one of the first still-life specialists. Thanks to the booming seventeenth-century Dutch art market, he became wealthy and famous, as the inscription on this painting attests, "It is the angelic hand of the great painter of flowers, Ambrosius, renowned even to the banks of death."