Rachel Ruysch's (Dutch, 1664–1750) exceptional still lifes are so intensely vital they practically burst beyond the canvas. She's duly memorialized in the Netherlands as "our subtle art heroine," but there was nothing subtle about her achievements as one of the most skilled, successful, and downright fascinating women in art history.
At first glance, Ruysch's sensory bouquets present as emblems of life; however, close inspection reveals a celebration of the life cycle, which inevitably encompasses decay and death. Memento mori, a Latin phrase meaning “remember you must die,” was a prevailing ethos in Ruysch’s day, and symbols of life’s impermanence were common features in art. But it would also seem that Ruysch inherited her father Frederik’s particularly morbid curiosity.
Frederik Ruysch (Dutch, 1638–1731) was a respected anatomist and botanist who crafted legendary dioramas of preserved and posed body parts. Young Rachel helped enhance the displays by crafting accessories made of flowers and lace. These weird and wondrous exhibitions so delighted the public that Frederik opened a popular museum in Amsterdam.
Frederik’s expansive collection of curiosities, which Rachel had the privilege of observing first hand, also included plants and paintings by Otto Marseus van Schrieck (Dutch, 1619/20–1678), who was known as “The Snuffler” for his voracious foraging of the sottobosco, or “forest floor,” for his shadowy still lifes.
The still life certainly existed before Ruysch, but guided by her teacher, the illustrious Willem van Aelst (Dutch, 1627–1683), she would nurture the genre into full bloom.
Over her remarkable six-decade career—during which she also became a mother to an astounding 10 children—Ruysch became the first female member of the Confrerie Pictura artist's society in her hometown of The Hague and served as a court painter to the German duke Johan Willem. Her coveted canvases fetched more during her lifetime than even Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669) earned during his, and she went down in history not only as the most documented woman of the Dutch Golden Age, but as the most documented painter of the entire 18th century.
These are among the many reasons why it’s so significant that in 2023, The Met acquired its first painting of—and partially by—the artist.
Created with the portraitist Michiel van Musscher (Dutch, 1645–1705), Rachel Ruysch (1692), housed in the Museum’s European Paintings collection, shows the artist at work in her studio. Naturally, Ruysch is surrounded by flora, which were painted by her own hand. An inscription on the album of floral studies in front of her commemorates the artists’ collaboration and invites viewers to consider their respective talents.
Ruysch is in good company at The Met, where many notable women—who were traditionally forbidden to study the human form—are represented. Among them are Orsola Maddalena Caccia (Italian, 1596–1676), Margareta Haverman (Dutch, 1693–1722 or later), and Clara Peeters (Flemish, ca. 1587–after 1636), whose still lifes are featured in our Midnight Garden Notecards.
Before Ruysch, Peeters established herself as a founding figure in the history of the European still life, and her ambitious A Bouquet of Flowers (ca. 1612) (shown below) is a fan favorite at The Met Store.
Our Peeters Bouquet of Flowers collection showcases details from the artist’s eye-catching arrangement on accessories for the home. Like Ruysch's work, this lush bouquet reveals the close connection between floral painting and botanical illustration during the Scientific Revolution.
Shop artful, giftable designs inspired by Peeters and other fabulous women, including illustrator Margaret Neilson Armstrong (American, 1867–1944) and Gee's Bend quiltmakers Lucy T. Pettway (American, 1921–2004) and Nettie Jane Kennedy (American, 1916–2002), in-store and online.
*Purchase, Adele Veronica Satkus Bequest, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund, Lila Acheson Wallace, Women and the Critical Eye, Charles and Jessie Price, and Henry and Lucy Moses Fund Inc. Gifts, Victor Wilbour Memorial Fund, Hester Diamond Gift, and funds from various donors, 2023
