Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 'Flowers in a Glass Bottle on a Marble Plinth', about 1670

Jan Davidsz. de Heem was probably trained by Baltasar van der Ast, as one can appreciate by studying the latter’s Flowers in a Vase with Shells and Insects. If so, he took that artist’s first steps into the naturalising of flower paintings to a new height. A riot of spring and summer flowers and autumn seeds and berries peopled with insects and other creatures almost literally brings the picture to life.

Commonplace wildflowers jostle for attention in the shadow of larger, more exotic blooms that steal the light and focus the picture. Two exquisite roses nestle cheek to cheek with a morning glory tucked between them. The honeysuckle on either side of the arrangement are like the two ends of a seesaw. These are held still by the strong downward diagonal line of the tulip stem and its leaf meeting it halfway.

The other flowers seem to be leaning towards us. The sunflower, however, lifts its face to its namesake up above. It provides a resting place for a wasp and a red admiral butterfly. Hovering over it is a humble yarrow. Its delicate florets are like a coronet confirming the status of the golden flower. The tip of the curving ear of wheat brings the tulip to our attention. The tulip mania that had gripped the Dutch Republic some time before this picture was painted was over, but tulips were still very expensive. Especially costly was the elegant striped Semper Augustus, or ‘forever exalted’.

The black flick of paint glimpsed between the petals of the tulip is the anther of a stamen. De Heem seems to be demonstrating his knowledge of the surface appearance of the flower, as well as the importance of its hidden parts. The invention of a new, powerful microscope had given rise to an interest in botany and entomology. The earwig and other insects patrolling the centres of the roses show de Heem’s understanding of their significance in the natural world. They may also reveal a personal interest of the unknown commissioner of the painting.

The client may have had a say in the choice of the flowers. Full-blown roses and ears of wheat, shy fritillaries and red berries are not all open or ripe in the same season. Like the eminent flower specialist Rachel Ruysch, De Heem would have had albums of specimen paintings to draw from to make his design. Perhaps the client consulted these as well.

Here, de Heem also confirms his talent for painting still life. We see the reflection of a skylight in the glass bottle. We see plant stems through glass and then the subtle difference of stems through glass filled with water. The surface of the mottled marble plinth becomes the concourse for passing creatures: an inquisitive snail, a bee and a spider skittering around the edge before dropping into space. All these diverse skills show de Heem as the great master of still-life painting that he was.