Is this the best-kept secret in The National Gallery?

Is this the best-kept secret in The National Gallery?

27 Apr 2018

Dr Francesca Whitlum-Cooper is the Myojin-Nadar Associate Curator of Paintings 1600–1800 at London’s National Gallery. Here, she tells us why Flowers in a Glass Vase by Jacob van Walscapelle (c.1670) is a painting not to be missed.

It’s all in the detail

Flowers in a Glass Vase is full of extraordinary details, from the reflection of the studio window in the vase to the caterpillar dangling on a silk thread. Each detail – so lifelike – is trying to trick you into believing that this is a real bouquet. Every time I look at this work, I see something new. It feels like a wonderful secret.

It’s not a painting that many people know…

…but it truly sings. The colours are so fresh. Earlier flower paintings were more stiff and formal, but van Walscapelle was interested in light and dynamism. The ears of corn feel as if they are popping out at you and the sunflowers are dappled in sun and shade.

The work isn’t quite for ‘real’

It’s an extraordinary fiction of different seasonal plants and exotic and local species, as shown by the red tulip in the centre. Today, the tulip is synonymous with the Netherlands, but during Walscapelle’s time, these colourful flowers were still imported from Turkey and the Levant.

The painting is so well preserved

The artist’s choice of medium – oil paints on canvas, mounted onto oak – was popular at the time van Walscapelle was painting. It helped preserve the work’s intricacies: the oak backing acted as a support to the canvas and prevented the paint from being absorbed into the cracks between the weaves.

The artist is a bit of a mystery

Much of van Walscapelle’s life is unknown. What we do know is that he was born in Dordrecht as Jacob Cruydenier. He later adopted the surname of a maternal great-grandfather. He lived in Amsterdam and was taught by the flower painter Cornelis Kick. It seems he gave up painting in later life and his known dated works range from 1667 to 1685.


Flowers in a Glass Vase is on display in Room 17a at the National Gallery, London; nationalgallery.org. Follow Francesca Whitlum-Cooper on Twitter: @FranWhitCoop

Image: Jacob van Walscapelle, Flowers in a Glass Vase, about 1670 © The National Gallery, London

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