Dutch flower painting, 1600-1720 /

Asserting that "there is no evidence to suggest that Dutch flower painters meant each of the blooms in their paintings to bear significance," Taylor (Warburg Institute, England) discusses the range of moral and religious meanings that may attach to such images. He suggests how these pictures convey concepts of pleasure in Nature, divine presence in the land, and transience. Although bulbs were exorbitantly priced, pictures of flowers were relatively affordable. These pictures are constructed "horticultural wish-fulfilments," for their blooms could not naturally coexist. Artists could have painted directly from live blooms, as Jan Brueghel did, or, as was perhaps more common, from drawings (their own or others') and from flowers made of paper or silk. Analyzing writings on art--in particular, those of De Lairesse--Taylor proposes that these flower pieces were used to teach technique, composition, lighting, and color coordination to the aspiring artist. Such pieces could demonstrate the harmony of the whole, or "houding," a Dutch term necessary for perfection in a history painting as well as in a flower piece. Handsomely produced, this book is a fruitful, sensible study that integrates floral paintings with Dutch culture in general, and provides iconographic, literary, economic, and art theoretical contexts for the appreciation of these pictures. Highly recommended. General; upper-division undergraduate through professional. A. Golahny; Lycoming College

This scholarly work examines 17th-century Dutch flower painting within the contexts of symbolism, political and economic events, religion, art criticism, and the art market. Detailed discussions use 17th-century sources to explore the significance of these paintings to their cultural contemporaries. Attractive reproductions, most of them in color, serve to illustrate the points that are made in the text. Interested lay readers are likely to enjoy the reproductions and discussions of individual painters. Because much of the book concentrates on fairly narrow interpretive issues, however, it will be of primary interest to scholars and students of the period. Recommended for specialized collections.‘Kathryn Wekselman, MLn., Cincinnati (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.