  About the Artwork
  
  
  Signed and dated 1704, this large flower still life is the crowning achievement of an artist who was one of the most successful of her time. Luscious white and orange lilies, peonies, cabbage roses, and striated tulips compete for attention in a sumptuous display. Glistening dewdrops on the petals suggest that the blossoms are freshly cut. Indeed, their scent continues to attract hovering insects. Despite this meticulous realism, the selected flowers do not bloom at the same time of the year. This colorful arrangement could only have existed in the artist’s imagination. Rachel Ruysch may have inherited her interest in the natural world from her father, Frederik, a renowned scientist and professor of anatomy whose extensive collection of embalmed zoological specimens was purchased by Peter the Great, czar of Russia.
  
  
  Title
  Flowers in a Glass Vase
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1704
  
  Artist
  Rachel Ruysch
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1664-1750
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Dutch
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 33 × 26 3/8 inches (83.8 × 67 cm)
  Framed: 42 1/2 × 35 1/2 × 3 inches (108 × 90.2 × 7.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Joseph M. de Grimme Memorial Fund, New Endowment Fund, Henry Ford II Fund, Ralph McElvenny Memorial Fund, Walter and Josephine Ford II Fund, Benson and Edith Ford Fund, Walter B. Ford Memorial Fund, Lenora and Alfred Glancy Foundation Fund, Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund, J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund, European Painting General Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sachs II, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Hudson, Jr. Fund, William H. Murphy Fund, Octavia W. Bates Fund, Director&#039;s Discretionary Fund, Popular Subscription Fund and funds from Edgar Martimer, Warren J. Coville, George Strombos, Founders Junior Council, Helmut Stern Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Alan E. Schwartz, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Shelden, Geraldine Schafer, Allan D. Gilmour, Faustyn Tate, Friends of Art and Flowers, Alice Kales Hartwick Foundation, Beverly Prentis Wagner, Women&#039;s Committee, Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord Gillis, Jr., Byron and Dorothy Gerson, Mort Harris, Mandel Berman, Marvin and Betty Danto, Lynn and Stanley Day, Margaret H. Demant, Mr. and Mrs. Todd Wyett, J. Michael Losh, Volunteer Committee, Mrs. Lester Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Bianco, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. George Keyes, Bonita and John Fike, Amanda Van Dusen, Museum Shops Volunteer Committee, Ruth Rattner, Dorothy Cartwright, Mr. and Mrs. William S. Fay, anonymous donors, Maryanne Gibson, Helen Gamburd, Wendy Evans, Jerry Earles Florist, Inc., Fifi A. and George J. Kushner, Jr., in memory of Mary Dowd Schmidt; gifts from Mr. and Mrs. James E. Scripps, Ralph Harman Booth,  Edward Chandler Walker, Mrs. Laura B. Higbie, Edward F. Fisher, Anna Scripps Whitcomb, Alfred J. Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. George Munroe Endicott, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Eisenberg, Colonel Frank J. Hecker, Peter Monaghan, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence P. Fisher, Mrs. William E. Scripps, William H. Thomson, Mortimer Brandt, Claire MacDonald Church, Lydia Kahn Winston Malbin, Mrs. Russell A. Alger, Gustave Volterra, Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Wilkinson, John S. Newberry, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb, Mr. and Mrs. James S. Whitcomb, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Field, Estate of Mrs. Alice G. Otis, Mrs. Henry Patten and Marc T. Patten, and City of Detroit, by exchange
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1995.67
  
  
  Copyright
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