INTERACTIVE IMG ASGNMNT

Female Painters

Inspiration

Sources

Style

Motifs

Source: (Beranek)

"Fruit and Insects" is a still-life in the style known as sotto bosco. This style of still-life painting depicted fruit, flowers, and small animals and insects in natural positions and compositions. ​This style was the signature of fellow Dutch artist Otto Marseus van Schrieck who inspired Ruysch. She even used many of the same elements as him in her still life paintings such as sponges to apply paint and attaching real moss and/or butterfly wings to the painting.

Source: (“Rachel Ruysch | Dutch Painter”)

Rachel Ruysch's father was a botanist, anatomist, and painter. She likely learned her love for studying exotic plants, flowers, and fruits from him.

Source: (Beranek)

Ruysch repeated this motif of three peaches in the center of the composition in many of her still-life paintings. It was not always three peaches, however, sometimes she used three flowers or another fruit, but the motif of a group of three in the center of the painting can be seen throughout her body of work.

Source: (Mauritshuis)

Rachel Ruysch was one of the only female artists of her time who continued working after getting married and having children. Women in this time period were considered inferior to men when it came to the arts, even to the point that some believed that women who were gifted artists were men trapped in a women's body.

Source: (Ambre Villanné)

The grapes and the wheat seen here are likely symbols of the Eucharist in Christianity (Bread and Wine) that represents the Lord's Supper.

Source: (Ambre Villanné)

This Painting depicts autumn as the fruits and plants chosen all are harvested in that season. We see, corn, squash, chestnuts, grapes, and wheat.

Ambre Villanné. “Rachel Ruysch, Fruit and Insects - Art Explora Academy.” Art Explora Academy, 19 June 2024, academy.artexplora.org/en/rachel-ruysch-fruit-and-insects/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. Beranek, Saskia. “Rachel Ruysch, Fruit and Insects – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org, smarthistory.org/rachel-ruysch-fruit-and-insects/. Mauritshuis. “Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750).” Www.mauritshuis.nl, www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection/our-masters/rachel-ruysch/. “Rachel Ruysch | Dutch Painter.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/Rachel-Ruysch.

Works Cited