The Token

Rachel Ruysch is the one token woman represented in the Dutch Exhibit and was famous for her lovely colorful paintings of flowers. Her father was an amateur painter and an internationally renowned professor of anatomy and botany. Because of this she undoubtedly became familiar with flowers and gardens in her early years.

She later married the portrait painter, Jurriaen Pool, and had ten children, but she continued to pursue her skill as an artist. In 1709 Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of Pfalz in Dusseldorf, appointed her his court painter. Rachel Ruysch worked for a distinguished international clientele until she died at age 83 in 1750.

This image detail is from the piece in the exhibit titled simply, Still Life with Flowers, shown here in the catalogue after attacks of my pen making notations of possible color uses and changes. As I have stated before, often, if not almost always, the  colors in the book do not match the colors of the paintings in the exhibit. I spent many hours analyzing each work, determining the colors, and making notations right on the pages for use back in my studio. This preliminary work made it infinitely easier to decide which pigments to use in my project paintings. It was an easy choice to use this colorful and lively painting by this master artist.