Ambrosius Bosschaert

Dutch, 1573 - 1621

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Gathered in a round glass vase, a tall bouquet of flowers in shades of light and deep pink, sunshine yellow, and white with pine-green leaves nearly fills this vertical still life painting. Shown against an gray background, the vase sits on a narrow ledge, perhaps made of wood. A label with looping, cursive French text painted in gold against a baby blue background is affixed to the front of the ledge, along the bottom edge of the composition. The text reads, “C'est l'Angelicq main du grad Peinctre de Flore AMBROISE, renommé jusqu' au Rivage Moré.” A few of the flowers draw the eye, including a tulip and iris at the top of the bouquet. To our left, the tulip is mauve pink with cream-colored streaks, and one petal folds down to reveal the stamen inside. Next to it, a damselfly, an insect like a delicate dragonfly, rests on the vibrant yellow iris. The petals curling down from the iris are veined in muted burgundy red. Flowers filling in the bouquet below include a shell-pink cyclamen, a white gardenia, a closed blue and white striped columbine, a slate-blue grape hyacinth, lily of the valley, pale blue forget-me-nots, and a pink peony interspersed with leaves and greenery. The round glass vase has a narrow opening. A sprig of viola rests to our left of the vase on the ledge, and an orange, black, white, and brown butterfly perches on the stem of a pink cyclamen laying to our right of the vase. The artist signed the painting with a monogram and dated it in dark paint to our right on the face of the ledge: “AB 1621.”
Ambrosius Bosschaert, Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase, 1621, oil on copper, Patrons' Permanent Fund and New Century Fund, 1996.35.1

Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase

Ambrosius Bosschaert · 1621 · oil on copper ·  Accession ID  1996.35.1

Bibliography

1913

  • Bredius, Abraham. "De bloemschilders Bosschaert". Oud Holland 31 (1913): 137–140.

1960

  • Bol, Laurens J. The Bosschaert Dynasty: Painters of Flowers and Fruit. Translated by A.M. de Bruin-Cousins. Leigh-on-Sea, 1960.

1982

  • Bol, Laurens J. 'Goede onbekenden': Hedendaagse herkenning en waardering van verscholen, voorbijgezien en onderschat talent. Utrecht, 1982.

1993

  • Bok, Martin Jan. "Ambrosius Bosschaert. " In Dawn of the Golden Age: Northern Netherlandish Art, 1580–1620. Amsterdam, 1993: 302-303.

2003

  • Willigen, Adriaan van der, and Fred G. Meijer. A dictionary of Dutch and Flemish still-life painters working in oils, 1525-1725. Leiden, 2003: 45.