Bouquet of Flowers in a Two-Handled Vase

An elegant opaque white glass vase of the kind Venetian glassmakers called lattimo holds a vibrant array of cut flowers and lush foliage — roses, gillyflowers, violets and rosemary among the more than fifteen species of cultivated and field plants — their shadows cast onto the tabletop in bright, even light. The bouquet marks a pivotal moment of the botanical Renaissance, when the close artistic observation of European plants, first explored around 1500 in the drawn and watercolour studies of Schongauer and Dürer, became a worthy subject of panel painting. Tom Ring’s meticulous technique and polished surfaces celebrate the individuality of familiar northern field flora — no imported tulips here — and give the modest little panel an unexpected monumentality. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.