Today I decided to talk about a combination of underrated gender and art genre, women and still life.
Rachel Ruysch was a still life painter born in The Hague in 1664. She was one of the most successful still life painters in the Netherlands during the 17th Century. In the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam we can admire the “Flowers on a Marble Tabletop” (1716) and the “Flowers in a Glass Vase” (c. 1690 – 1720). When we look at Ruysch’s canvases we can notice an abundance of colours and shapes. In her paintings, we can distinguish tulips and roses, hyacinths and poppies among many other types of flowers. Rachel Ruysch was the daughter of a botanist, Frederick Ruysch, which explains her passion and her attention to detail towards the natural world. In most of her paintings, the brightest spot can be encountered at the centre of the bouquet. She also included the edge of the table on which these objects were positioned in order to give more depth to the composition. The illusion of perspective is given by both the inclusion of the edge of the table and the darkness from which the bouquets seem to arise, which helps to further emphasize the outline of the flowers.
She started to paint at a very young age and she was quickly recognized for her skills by other contemporary artists. At the age of 18 she was already selling indepependently her works with her signature on them. It is worth mentioning that Rachel Ruysch was the first woman to have earned the membership to the painters’ guild of The Hague, a big achievement for that epoch. Around 1700, she became the official court painter in Düsseldorf (Germany) of Johann Wilhelm II (Elector Palatine), a role that she covered until the prince’s death in 1716. She also married and gave birth to ten children, but this did not stop her from painting and receiving commissions from an increasing quantity of international patrons. Thanks to her international recognition as an artist, she was able to live financially independent and to economically sustain her family. She continued to paint until the very last days of her life. She died in 1750 in Amsterdam at the age of 86, which is a very long life for the standard of that period.
Rachel Ruysch chose to practice painting, a type of art that in the 17th Century was regarded as an exclusively male activity, while women were expected to dedicate their time to different art forms such as spinning and sewing. Throughout her lifetime, her paintings were sold for prices as high as 750–1200 guilders. In comparison, Rembrandt rarely received more than 500 guilders for a painting in his lifetime.
She elevated flower painting and more in general the genre of still life in the hierarchy of art genres. She is regarded as one of the best still-life painters of either sex.
Who is your favourite female artist and why? Tell us in the comment section below!
Rachel Ruysch,”Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase”, c. 1690 – 1720, oil on canvas, 65 x 53.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 
Rachel Ruysch, “Still Life with Flowers on a Marble Tabletop”, 1716, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 39.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 
Rachel Ruysch, “Roses, Convolvulus, Poppies, and Other Flowers in an Urn on a Stone Ledge”, ca. 1680s, oil on canvas, National Museum of Women, Washington 
Godfried Schalcken, “Portrait of Rachel Ruysch”, ca. 1701, oil on canvas, The Cheltenham Trust 
Juriaan Pool and his wife Rachel Pool, born Ruisch, at the age of 84
