| Portraying profusion seems to have been De Heem’s objective when painting this flower still life. Indeed, the bouquet fills the entire painting. The contrast provided by the dark background makes the colours seem even more flamboyant. Thus the picture is quite different from the flower paintings dating from the beginning of the 17th century. Compared with the neatly arranged bouquets of Bosschaert, for example, De Heem’s creations are a veritable explosion of colour.
De Heem’s partiality for profusion is expressed not only by the fruit and flowers but also by the animal kingdom, which is widely represented here. No fewer than twelve small creatures are to be seen: several striking butterflies, snails and caterpillars, as well as such minuscule insects as an ant, an earwig and a daddy longlegs.
De Heem is considered the most influential flower painter of the second half of the 17th century. For a while he lived alternately in Utrecht and Antwerp, thus acting as a link between the somewhat sober still-life painters in the north and their more exuberant counterparts in the south.
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