Still life with flowers and butterflies
1668
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 87.7 × 75.9 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- the Netherlands
- Inscription
- inscribed in grey paint l.r.: Maria …. Oosterwyck 1668
- Accession Number
- 2024.175
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Dodge Bequest, Margaret Bland, Joy Anderson, Tim Fairfax AC & Gina Fairfax AC, The Betsy & Ollie Polasek Endowment, Michael Heine Family Foundation, Suzanne Kirkham, Carol Sisson, E. & D. Rogowski Foundation, and donors to the 2022 NGV Foundation Annual Dinner and 2022 NGV Annual Appeal, 2024 - Gallery location
- 17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
-
This still life by Maria van Oosterwyck features more than thirty different species of flowers and foliage, including irises, roses, peonies, carnations and an exotic red-and-white striped tulip. She has added a small fly, a red admiral butterfly and a European garden golden orb spider, which enhance the intense realism of the work. The reflection of her studio window in the glass vase also adds to its sense of immediacy. Each object is perfectly rendered and the carefully constructed composition projects strongly from a dark background. She painted this work soon after moving to Amsterdam
and its sheer quality demonstrates why
she quickly became such a respected
still-life artist.
