The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has acquired a rare double portrait of Dutch Old Master Rachel Ruysch, a prolific painter best known for her still lifes of flower arrangements. Ruysch shaped his emblematic flora on the canvas, then portraitist Michael van Musscher represents the artist at work.
It is the first painting in the Met de Ruysch (a work acquired in 1871 was later discovered to be a copy) and the first double portrait in the museum. The work was once only known to a few scholars and research into the painting has only just begun.
“I’m really excited to delve into some of the mysteries about this,” said Met Associate Curator of European Paintings Adam Eaker. Hyperallergic. “It shows us, I think, how innovative Ruysch was in creating her public image early in her career: she’s been steadily becoming famous since her own life.”
Despite their floral subject matter, Ruysch’s paintings are moody and dark, evoking the somber palette of his Dutch Golden Age contemporaries. The works of these 17th-century artists are among the most famous paintings in the world — an exhaustive exhibition of Vermeer in Amsterdam is sold out and resale tickets sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But as with many aspects of the art world, the field was heavily male-dominated.
“Fortunately, she was not forgotten or neglected as so many artists – especially female artists – were in the 17th century,” Eaker said.
Ruysch was born to a famous anatomist and botanist Frederic Ruysch – who later sold his collection of works to Peter the Great of Russia – and his paintings display a studied adherence to scientific accuracy and detail. The artist managed to build a successful career spanning six decades and reach acclaimed, becoming the first female member of the Society of Artists Brotherhood Pictura and serving as court painter to a German duke.
Eaker explained that the newly acquired portrait shows Ruysch “at the height of his powers”, having developed his own style of painting and his own way of arranging flowers.
Ruysch created another known double portrait, more than a decade later with her husband, the painter Juriaen Pool II. Although this style of portraiture was extremely rare, Eaker explained that paintings created by two artists were actually very fashionable in the 17th century.
“It was a way for connoisseurs to practice their skills and show in front of their guests that they could identify these different hands, this kind of pictorial game,” said the curator.
Scholars are not entirely sure of the relationship between Michiel van Musscher and Ruysch, but van Musscher owned one of Ruysch’s paintings and the two artists were linked years later when Peter the Great visited Amsterdam. “They operated in overlapping circles,” Eaker said. “He definitely admired his work, but there’s still a lot to discover.” (Eaker also noted that the couple made this painting a year before Ruysch’s wedding.)
The Met’s new acquisition is already helping researchers uncover secrets about Ruysch. Eaker pointed to the bottom of the canvas, where a drawing can be seen under the pile of books. Scholars have long debated the role of drawings in Ruysch’s practice and no sketches are attributed to him, but this blue sheet of paper could help art historians determine what the painter’s drawings actually looked like.
In the foreground of the painting, lines scribbled in the open book describe the collaboration between van Musscher and Ruysch. “See how van Musscher made his brush shine when he painted her from nature,” Eaker translated. The page is signed “De Vree”, a detail that points to a mysterious third collaborator.
Bottom right, a butterfly clings to a light pink flower. Eaker said late 17th-century artists attached real butterfly wings to their paintings, and scientific examination found scales of the disintegrated creature on the canvas. “She really thinks about how to combine art and science,” Eaker said.
“I really couldn’t believe my eyes,” Eaker said of when he first saw the painting. He was in a restaurant on Madison Avenue and the dealer who sold the work retrieved an image from his laptop. “It really is a dream acquisition.”
The museum plans to install the work in its galleries over the summer.
