Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) was a remarkable painter during the Dutch Golden Age, celebrated for floral still lifes, a genre with a rich tradition in Dutch art. In Ruysch’s lifetime, it was typical for her paintings to fetch higher prices than Rembrandt’s did in his, a generation earlier. While Ruysch’s fame was widespread in her day, her renown wilted in subsequent centuries, overshadowed by her contemporaries. That has changed in recent years, with her paintings sought after by museums and private collectors and celebrated in a traveling exhibition. Now, scholars cite Ruysch as perhaps the greatest female flower painter in all of art history.
As a new appreciation of her work blossoms, three institutions, the Alte Pinakothek, Munich; the Toledo Museum of Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), have collaborated on a seminal monographic exhibition. This show assembles an unprecedented group of Ruysch canvases in both quantity, with 35, and quality.
