Vanitas Flower Still Life

Artist Willem van Aelst Dutch, 1627–after 1687

Datecirca 1656–1657

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions22 x 18 1/4 in. (55.9 x 46.4 cm)
Frame: 28 1/4 x 24 1/2 in. (71.8 x 62.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.57

On View

On view

ProvenanceProbably created Amsterdam, ca. 1656–1657. Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1840–1929) and Fürstlich Liechtenstein'sche Gemäldegalerie, Vienna, by 1927, no. 944, as Rachel Ruysch [1]; to his brother Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1853–1938), Vienna; probably to his nephew, Franz Josef II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906–1989), Vienna [2]; [Dr. Robert Herzig, Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, October 10, 1950] [3]; [Newhouse Galleries, New York, by 1951]; sold to NCMA, 1952, as Rachel Ruysch.

[1] This is the gallery of the Liechtenstein family collections, and ownership of the objects was maintained by the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein.
[2] During World War II the core of the Liechtenstein collections were transferred from the Garden Palace in Vienna to the castle at Vaduz in the principality of Liechtenstein.
[3] The purchase by Dr. Herzig was provided by Dr. Arthur Stögman, an archivist at the historical library of the Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna. See Weller, NCMA Dutch and Flemish Cat. (2009), p. 5 note 1.
Published ReferencesAdolf Kronfeld, Führer durch die fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien (Vienna, 1927), 193, 267, cat. 944, as Rachel Ruysch.

Adolf Kronfeld, Führer durch die fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wein (Vienna, 1931), 192, cat. 944, as Rachel Ruysch.

W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 67 (as by Rachel Ruysch), illus. (b-w).

W. R. Valentiner, “Allegorical Portrait of Rachel Ruysch,” North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Summer 1957), 4–8, illus. (b-w) 6.

Five Hundred Years of Flowers and Gardens in Western Art (exhibition catalogue) (Jacksonville: Cummer Gallery of Art, 1962), cat. no. 8 (as by Rachel Ruysch).

“Restoration,” North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 6, no. 4 and 7, no. 1 (1966/67?), mentioned 16.

Exhibition One from the Permanent Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1970), 66, illus. (b-w) 67 (as by Rachel Ruysch).

Women (exhibition catalogue) (Winston-Salem: Salem Fine Arts Center, 1972), cat. no. 5, illus. (b-w) 4 (as by Rachel Ruysch).

Eleanor Tufts, Our Hidden Heritage: Five Centuries of Women Artists (New York: Paddington Press, 1974), 100, illus. 56.

Donna G. Bachmann and Sherry Piland, Women Artists: An Historical, Contemporary, and Feminist Bibliography (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press; 1978), 130, illus. 131.

Elsa Honig Fine, Women and Art (1978), 36–37, illus.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (color) 14.

Joy Kenseth, ed., The Age of the Marvelous (exhibition catalogue) (Hanover: The Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1991), cat. no. 425, illus.

A. J. [Anthony Janson], “Lievens Painting Featured in Rembrandt Show,” North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Autumn 1991), discussed 19.

Eleanore J. Hajian, “Sharing the marvelous,” The Herald-Sun/Raleigh Extra (February 2, 1992), illus. 8.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) 102.

“The Age of the Marvelous,” North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1991–92), illus. (b-w) 9.

Renate Trnek, Die Höllandischen Gemälde des 17. Jahrhunderts: in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien (Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1992), 5, as Abb. 2a, illus. (p. 541 lists Aelst, Willem van with a ?).

Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art (exhibition catalogue) (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1999), cat. no. 61, illus. (color) 60.

North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (Mar/Apr 2001), illus. (b-w) 14.

Marianne Roland Michel, The Floral Art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (exhibition catalogue) (Greenwich: Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, 2002), illus. (b-w) 9. (Catalogue only, not in exhibition.)

Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 1, illus. (color) 3.

Tanya Paul, et al, Elegance and Refinement: The Still-Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Skira Rizolli for the MFA Houston and National Gallery of Art, 2012), cat. no. 11, illus. (color), also 74–76, 88 nn. 28 & 35–36, 89 n. 42, illus. (color) 75, fig. 11, and detail (color) 6.
Exhibition HistoryJacksonville, FL, Cummer Gallery of Art, "Five Hundred Years of Flowers and Gardens in Western Art," October 17-November 20, 1962, cat. no. 8.

Sarasota, FL, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, "Hidden Baroque Allegories," November 1-28, 1965.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Exhibition Number One from the Permanent Collection," October 1970, 66 (as by Rachel Ruysch), illus. (b-w) 67.

Winston-Salem, NC, Salem Fine Arts Center, "Women," February 27-April 20, 1972, cat. no. 5, illus.

Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, "Masterpieces from the North Carolina Museum of Art," March 11-April 13, 1975.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Art in the Age of Rembrandt," October 25, 1986-February 15, 1987, discussed 10-11, illus. (b-w) 10, fig. 9.

Hanover, NH, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, "The Age of the Marvelous,"September 14-November 24, 1992; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art,January 25-March 22, 1992; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, May 19-August 9, 1992; Atlanta, High Museum of Art, October 6, 1992-January 3, 1993, cat. p. 425, illus..

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, "From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art," January 31-May 31, 1999, cat. p. 61, illus. (color) 60.

Houston, TX, Museum of Fine Arts, "Elegance and Refinement: The Still Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst," March 11-May 27, 2012; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, June 24-October 28, 2012, cat. no. 11.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–September 5, 2023.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Art in a Global Age: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston", September 16, 2023-January 7, 2024.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," March 27, 2024-present. Object Rights Statement

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