3-098-473 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Flowers in a Bowl, 1615. On a table sits a ceramic bowl with a scalloped rim, holding a multitude of flowers of different species and vibrant colours. Among others, there are carnations, various kinds of roses, daffodils, and anemones, though the vase cannot hold them all, some spilling haphazardly onto the table. A sprig of orange blossom stands out prominently in the foreground. As the artist's own correspondence reveals, Brueghel sought to faithfully reproduce the variety and beauty of flowers, for which he travelled to different places and waited for the various species to bloom. Live animals can also be seen, contributing to the composition's air of realism and verisimilitude. We can see a ladybird on a white carnation, a butterfly perched on a twig in the upper left, and, on the opposite side, a dragonfly searching for nectar on one of the flowers.