Still Life: Flowers and Fruit, c.1700-20 (oil on panel)

Some of the greatest scientific advances in botanical studies took place in the Netherlands from the end of the 1500s, as Dutch merchants returned home with exotic plants from all over the world. The identification of new plant species encouraged a market for accurate paintings of flowers and fruit, such as this, by Jan van Huysum. Although the individual plants were recorded from real examples of exotic cultivars, the combination of flowers is unnatural. Many of these flowers would not have bloomed together before the development of modern cultivation techniques, and Van Huysum most likely worked from sketches to create his ideal bouquet. A bird's nest is in the centre foreground, with a clump of grasses to the left that includes clover and a daisy; convolvulus creeps in at the left-hand edge. The right foreground contains grapes, peaches, a melon, primulas, forget-me-nots and a brassica leaf. The focal point is the luxuriant central bouquet that includes white and pink roses, a valuable ‘broken' (variegated) tulip, stephanotis, gentians and hollyhocks. Closer inspection reveals Peacock, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, snails, beetles, caterpillars, and dewdrops on the leaves.