Basket Of Flowers Analysis

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even changed the way this is now carried out. However, due to the sophisticated nature of many of the paintings that comprise still life, sketching became an imperative first step to the process of creating a final product11. The paintings were simply otherwise much too complex, and in the case of floral still lifes, hardly possible to complete because of the time frame that it would take to bring a painting to fruition, while the actual model comprised of authentic flowers would age and die. In other words, the model could not be counted on to remain still itself! Therefore, it took a combination of sketching and an authentic exemplar to allow the artist to come up with a finished product.
Here it would be instructive to explain the phases …show more content…

Figure one that appears on the illustrations page following the bibliography is a floral still life done by Rachel Ruysch entitled “Basket of Flowers” and completed in 1711. A perusal of the painting finds all of the elements of design and technique mentioned in a previous section of this essay on full display. The composition of the painting has several large flowers on display, surrounded by a variety of secondary types of spindly vines and leaves, all wispily supporting the main focal point of the picture12. Her use of color is subtle and real as well, and the detail adds an authenticity that makes the viewer want to lean in and inhale the lovely perfume of the blossoms. The use of light and shadow are easily recognized, and are a repeated theme in the floral still lifes of the time. Ruysch gives a sense of a darkened background while draws the eye to the lightened flowers that are front and center in the painting. Indeed, here is a perfect example of the use of the aforementioned techniques in a floral still …show more content…

By now, the British art market was awash with these types of floral still lifes – and others as well. They had become a leading art genre, and although each was different they resonated with the similarities that had become all too common by the mid-1600s. That is not to take anything away from the artist, for indeed the work is more than impressive. The realism of this vase of flowers (aptly named) is once again palpable. They are so authentic looking the viewer is wont to reach out and touch them. De Heem uses the self-same techniques of the other floral still life artists, shadow and light, composition and texture, to deliver a painting that has the right mix of naturalness but the formidable sense of artistic challenge upon reflection. De Heem again reconfirms the

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