Still Life of Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Marble Ledge

This canvas, almost 90 centimetres high, is on loan to the National Gallery from the Capstick collection, which has also lent a later flower piece by Ruysch. She signed and dated it in 1710. Roses, tulips, alliums and carnations rise from a glass vase on a marble ledge, and at the very top a red poppy catches the eye before it fades into the dark behind.

In a prominent place sits a Semper Augustus, the most celebrated of the striped tulips, and Ruysch has peeled back one of its petals so you can see the stamens inside. Lower down a sunflower lies on the ledge with its stem broken, a quiet hint at how short all this beauty will last. Butterflies, bees, flies and beetles are scattered through the leaves, and a large dragonfly sits turned towards the trumpet of a honeysuckle.