Flowers in a Glass Vase

This is one of my favorite paintings at the DIA! It is by Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch.

1704

An interesting side story. I read a gardening book by the  English writer Beverly Nichols (who by the way was a gardener just as a hobby). He wanted to replicate this flower arrangement. He could find every flower exactly except for the red and white Parrot Tulips. During WWII, he was wounded in Africa. While he was being carried down a mountain on a stretcher he spotted the Parrot Tulip. He asked them to stop and dig up the bulb and eventually carried it back to England where he planted it in his garden. Eventually, he was able to duplicate this flower arrangement exactly.