Bouquet of Flowers and Fruit with Blue Ribbon
Maria van Oosterwijck·c. 1680
Historical Context
Maria van Oosterwijck's Bouquet of Flowers and Fruit with Blue Ribbon from around 1680 is a sumptuous floral still life by one of the most accomplished female painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Van Oosterwijck, who never married and devoted her life entirely to painting, produced flower paintings of exceptional quality that rivaled those of Willem van Aelst and Rachel Ruysch. Her work was collected by Louis XIV, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the King of Poland.
Technical Analysis
Van Oosterwijck's oil-on-canvas technique achieves extraordinary botanical precision in rendering each flower, fruit, and insect with meticulous naturalistic detail. The rich, saturated colors against a dark background and the precise rendering of varied textures demonstrate her command of the Dutch flower painting tradition.
Provenance
Probably sold through Jean Chretien Kaller, Frankfurt, Mar. 12, 1764, lot 87 to Benedikt Ludwig Schlund [Schlundt] for 17.3 florins [according to analysis of detailed description in auction catalog and list of known works compiled by McIntosh 2010, cat. 19]. Sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Apr. 24, 1961, lot 122. Sold, Sotheby’s London, Dec. 9, 1992, lot 92, to Salomon Lilian, Amsterdam [this and the following according to email correspondence with Rachel Elwes, Ben Elwes Fine Art, Aug. 26, 2022, in curatorial object file]; sold to a private collection, Amsterdam, 1993 [Mouwes 1993, cat. 11]; consigned to Kunsthandel P. de Boer B.V., Amsterdam, 2018 until at least 2019; returned to private collection, Amsterdam; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2022.
