Flowers in a Glass Vase with a Tulip

The bouquet climbs to a striped tulip at the top, the variety called Semper Augustus. Below it Ruysch gathers roses, honeysuckle and pear blossom, and among them go flies of many kinds, beetles, a damselfly and a caterpillar with handsome stripes.

She painted it in 1716, and it shows her manner shifting. The rose petals spread like fine frills and the tulip leaves curl in long, graceful lines, a step away from the sober exactness of older Dutch flower painting towards the lighter, decorative taste later called rococo.

By then Ruysch had borne ten children, several of whom died young. She left one of her paintings to each of her daughters as a dowry.