A Bouquet of Flowers

Tulips, roses, irises and marigolds rise from a glass vase in a bouquet painted with a jeweller’s precision. Clara Peeters was one of the first great female still-life painters in European art, active in Antwerp in the early 1600s, and this small panel from about 1612 displays her signature delicacy: each petal and leaf is individuated, the dew on the flowers catching the light. A single fallen petal and a pale butterfly give the composition a touch of fragile life.