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Fruit and Flowers in a Terracotta Vase

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This profusion of luscious fruit and flowers, just past their best, may be a celebration of nature, though it’s anything but natural. The pineapple balanced precariously on top of a tower of flowers is enough to place it in the realms of fantasy. The whole picture looks as if it has been blown together by the wind and is about to topple over.

Van Os drifts pink roses up the spine of the arrangement to a white tulip that’s losing its red streaked petals. This type of tulip – the Semper Augustus – was, like the pineapple, highly prized, even when dying.

The microscope, a new invention, made it possible for artists to paint the insects in their pictures with great accuracy. Here, a fly promenades up the stem of a deep red rose and a painted lady butterfly perches in the shelter of a tulip petal.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Fruit and Flowers in a Terracotta Vase

Date

1777-8

Medium

Oil on mahogany

Measurements

H 89.1 x W 71 cm

Accession number

NG6520

Acquisition method

Presented by Miss V. Churchman in memory of her sister I.N. Churchman, 1988

Work type

Painting

Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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