Top 10 Incredible Facts about Rachel Ruysch

Vase with Flowers by Rachel Ruysch Leonard Koetser, London. Photo outsourced from Wikimedia

Top 10 Incredible Facts about Rachel Ruysch

Rachel was a Dutch still-life painter and a student of artist Willem van Aelst specializing in flower painting, introducing her style and achieving international fame in her lifetime. Her use of colors, her sense of composition added a compelling vibrancy to her paintings.

She was the first female member to be inducted into The Hague’s painters’ Guild. Rachel’s career spanned over six decades, becoming the best-documented woman painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Here are top 10 incredible facts about Rachel Ruysch.

1. Racheal Ruysch Was Born in 1664

Racheal was born on June 3, 1664, in The Hague to Frederik Ruysch, the scientist, and Maria Post, the daughter of architect Pieter Post. Racheal father was an amateur painter and professor of anatomy and botany.

Her father had an extensive collection of animal skeletons, minerals, and botany samples which Rachel used to practice her drawing skills.

2. Racheal Began Painting at a Young Age

Photo by Txllxt TxllxT- Wikimedia

At a young age, Racheal began to paint insects and flowers from her father’s collection in the popular manner of Otto Marseus van Schrieck. Working from these samples, she matched her father’s ability to depict nature accurately.

Rachel became more accomplished in her painting technique and taught her father and her sister, Anna Ruysch, how to paint.

3. Rachel Was Apprenticed to Willem van Aelst

At the age of fifteen, Rachel was apprenticed to Willem van Aelst, a prominent flower painter in Amsterdam. Willem studio in Amsterdam looked out over the studio of the flower painter Maria van Oosterwijck.

She studied with Willem until he died in 1683. Apart from painting techniques, he taught her how to arrange a bouquet in a vase to look less formalized and spontaneous. This technique produced a more realistic and three-dimensional effect in her paintings.

At 18, Rachel was producing and selling independently signed works. She also worked together with flower painters Jan and Maria Moninckx, Alida Withoos, and Johanna Helena Herolt Graff. The painters worked for the Hortus owner Agnes Block and plant collector Jan and Caspar Commelin.

Read more on Top 10 Intriguing Facts about Willem van Aelst

4. Rachel’s Painting Techniques Were Exceptional

Rachel Ruysch – Still-Life with Flowers. Photo outsorced from Wikimedia

Rachel’s paintings paid extensive attention to details. She had a good understanding of drawing and techniques of earlier traditions and used to let her artwork have playful composition and brilliant colors.

Her early work focused on painting many forest floor pictures with features of small animals, butterflies, and reptiles. She later adopted flower painting as her main and continued to paint until her death.

Most of her flower paintings usually had a dark background, and each flower had an extremely naturalistic way with elaborate arrangements difficult to achieve in nature. Rachel was unique and highly regarded among women painters of her time.

The symbolism of her flowers was elaborately developed in the 17th century, but most of this concerned the introduction of a single flower into a Vanitas piece. No 18th-century painter matched her skills apart from Jan van Huysum.

Discover 10 Most Famous Dutch Painters of All Time

5. Rachel Worked in a Court

She was invited to work for the court in Dusseldorf in 1708 and serve as court painter to Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. Rachel obtained a contract for works painted at home that she periodically brought to Dusseldorf.

Rachel worked for Johann Wilhem, elector Palatine, and his wife from 1708 until the prince died in 1716.

6. Art Historian Considered Rachel One of the Most Talented painters

Rachel is considered one of the most talented still-life artists by art historians. By the time of her death, she had produced hundreds of paintings, and more than 250 have been documented or attributed to her.

Her dated works establish that she painted from the age of 15 until she was 83, a few years before her death. Historians can establish this with certainty because she used to include her age when signing her paintings.

7. Rachel Was Married to a Portrait Painter

Portret van Juriaen Pool en Rachel Ruysch. Photo by Rijksmuseum- Wikimedia

She married Amsterdam portrait painter Juriaen Pool in 1693, and together they had ten children. Throughout her marriage and adult life, she continued to paint and produce commissions for an international circle of patrons.

At her time, women were expected to participate in art forms more traditionally practiced by women, such as sewing and spinning. However, she continued working as a painter after marriage because her contribution to the family’s income allowed hire to help care for their children.

In 1699, Racheal and her family moved to The Hague, where she was offered membership in the Confrerie Pictura as their first female member. In 1701, Rachel and her husband became members of The Hague Painter’s Guild.

8. Rachel Had a Great Reputation and Fame

During her lifetime, Rachel gained fame, and her works were highly valued. In the 17th century, the Dutch were very interested in flowers and gardening, painting that highlighted the beauty of nature was highly valued and helped maintain Rachel’s clientele throughout her career.

Even after her death, her fame is still felt. In 1999 a painting was discovered in a Normandy farmhouse and sold at auction for 2.9 million French francs, about US$508,000. In March 2021, her work was added to the Gallery of Honor at the Rijksmuseum. She, Judith Lyster, and Gesina ter Borch are the first women to be included in the gallery.

Also read 10 Most Famous Painters of all Time

9. Rachel Died in Amsterdam in 1750

Portrait of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750). Photo outsourced from Wikimedia

On October 12, 1750, Rachel died in Amsterdam and maintained a strong reputation after her death. Eleven poets paid her their respect when she died with poems about her.

10. There Was Interest in Rachel’s Work During the 20th Century

During the 20th century, Rachel’s work became of interest, with her paintings featured in major European exhibitions. This includes ‘Still Life Painting from the Netherlands 1550-1720’ at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1999 and ‘Each their own Reason: Women Artists in Belgium and the Netherlands 1500-1950’ at the Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Arnhem in 2000.