Bouquet of Flowers, 1700

About the Work

The “Bouquet of Flowers” is a work meticulously executed in body colour on white-prepared vellum. It is an expression as much of splendour as of fragility. The artist applied a shiny medium in places to lend the darker colours more depth. Henstenburgh was concerned primarily with the radiant colours of the flowers, which he carefully staggered from front to back. Optical illusions such as the drops of water, and references to transience, for example the gradually disintegrating physalis, are likewise typical of his art.