Flowers in a Vase

At the top of this bouquet sits a big sunflower, its dark centre ringed with yellow petals. The sunflower came to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, and by 1718 it was a familiar garden plant. Around it the painter gathered roses, a flamed tulip at the right, and at the lower left a large pale bloom beside a cluster of small cream flowers. Tulips bloom in spring and sunflowers in late summer, so no garden could have supplied all of these on one day. Flower painters of the period usually built such bouquets from separate studies, one flower at a time.