Collection Online
Flowerpiece
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
70.4 × 54.6 cm
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.c.r.: Rachel (Rach underlined) Ruysch (Ruy underlined)
Accession Number
1417-4
Department
International Painting
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mr Norton E. Grimwade in memory of his wife Mrs Norton E. Grimwade, 1945
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work

Although formerly attributed to Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750), the authorship of this painting is currently under question. It dates from the late seventeenth century, but the work seems to be a pastiche of sorts. Numerous floral details have been borrowed from a still life by Abraham Mignon (1640–79), a work now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The copper vase also appears in another painting that has been variously attributed to Ruysch herself and to Simon Pietersz Verelst (1644–1721). Scholarship on Rachel Ruysch remains scant and outdated, and the question of who painted this still life lies unresolved.

Subjects (general)
Botanical
Subjects (specific)
dark (colour attribute) flower pieces rose (genus) still lifes
Frame
Reproduction, 2017, based on a Dutch ogee frame from c.1680. This project was generously supported by NGV Foundation Member Tony Cardamone.

Frame

The former framing of Flowerpiece (1417-4) was in the manner of eighteenth century French frames, a Louis XIV style using gilded composition ornament on a wooden base.
The painting was re-framed in 2017 with a frame based on seventeenth century Dutch forms, using a timber finish.
The frame uses a profile with a curved outer edge continuing the curved frame form of the front.
The frame was made in London and fitted to the painting in August 2017.

The painting was cleaned in 2000.

This frame has been generously supported by Tony Cardamone, Member, NGV Foundation.

Framemaker
Reproduction - commissioned by the NGV
Date
2017