Rachel RuyschRachel Ruysch

"At the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th, Rachel Ruysch was celebrated across Europe for her ... floral still lifes, admired both for their artistry and for their accurate depictions of flowers, fruit and insects. Often placed on stone ledges and against dark backgrounds, her ... bouquets seem to spill over with all manner of ... flowers and plants, as bees and butterflies flit to and from their petals. Ruysch's star faded after the close of the Dutch Golden Age, but late 20th- and early 21st-century interest in women artists has returned her to the forefront of the art historical canon. Nature into Art introduces today's audiences to Ruysch's achievements while also exploring the ... role of women artists and scientists in the Dutch Republic in the 17th and 18th centuries. ... [I]llustrated with ... reproductions of Ruysch's intricate paintings, the essays touch upon Ruysch's career and her immediate legacy while also widening their scope to consider the role of botany in the early modern era and the ... tradition of botanical illustration. The catalog also includes an index of the various flora and fauna depicted within Ruysch's work, which feature both native and nonnative species."--