November, 19 19 
57 
One is often puzzled in determining 
whether a flower painting is Flemish 
or, as here, nth Century Italian. 
Courtesy of Warwick House 
The potteries of ancient Persia 
are replete with flower themes. 
The matchless artists of Old 
China, who spent their lives 
creating beauty for the emperors 
and the mandarins, drew much 
of their inspiration from flowers; 
their vases have even derived 
their names from them, as, for 
instance, the peach-bloom, ap¬ 
ple-blossom and hawthorne jars; 
as for Japan, the cherry blos¬ 
som has entered its art deeply. 
Strikingly similar in arrangement and 
treatment to the picture in the left 
corner of the page is this other ex¬ 
ample of nth Century Italian 
by Holbein, or Memling, or Bot¬ 
ticelli, and our American col¬ 
lectors are on record as having 
paid as much as $1,000 a square 
inch for works by these im¬ 
mortals. And besides, the mas¬ 
ters of flower painting, with all 
their minuteness of detail, did 
not portray flowers simply as 
they came, but exercised the 
highest sense of composition in 
arranging them on their can¬ 
vases in incomparable patterns, 
In England and America 
(Above) Daniel Seg- 
hers (1590- 1661) 
was a Flemish Jesuit 
who often included 
figure medallions in 
his flower paintings 
Only England, with its su¬ 
perb roses, seems to have neg¬ 
lected floral motives in its art. 
England has regarded flower 
painting as trivial, as at best the pastime of 
the water-colorists, and this tradition descend¬ 
ing to America may be one of the causes why 
our appreciation for the masterpieces of the 
Netherlands and France and Italy has lagged 
behind our love for art in general. 
Undoubtedly, it has been felt that the de¬ 
lineation of flowers has held in it something 
of the “photographic” element so despised in 
art; but, for that matter, what could be more 
photographic than the exactness of a portrait 
(Left) Flowers in a Vase, 
by Abraham Mignon, is 
considered one of the 
world’s really famous mas¬ 
terpieces. Rijks Museum, 
Amsterdam. Courtesy 
Knoedler Galleries 
(Right) A Dutch painting 
by Jan van Os (1744- 
1805). Van Os was one 
of the followers of Jan 
van Huysum, greatest of 
all flower painters. Cour¬ 
tesy Lewis & Simmons 
(Left) By Jean Bap¬ 
tiste Oudry,who with 
Monnoyer heads the 
list of French 
flower painters. J. 
R. Bremmer Co. 
in glorious harmonies not alone 
of colors but of masses. Van 
Huysum, De Heem, Monnoyer 
and their colleagues were as 
great geniuses in arranging their 
floral themes as was Rembrandt 
in the drama of his compositions or Reynolds 
in his grand style. 
The 17th Century 
An interesting fact is that the greatest of 
the world’s flower pictures were painted in 
those generations when flowers were valued as 
objects of beauty more than they ever had been 
before and more than they ever have been 
since. This was in the 17th Century. The 
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