Flowers

WALL LABEL: Metamorphosis, collection display 2023

Painted in the late eighteenth century, this striking and elaborate still life revisits the Golden Age of Dutch painting, a full century earlier. A highly symbolic vanitas work, this painting was designed to remind the viewer of the transience of life and of their own mortality. One of the most important and powerful symbols in this type of still life painting, the butterfly represents the frailty of life but also metamorphosis and transformation. Butterflies often take on a spiritual meaning and are said to symbolise the resurrection of Christ.

In this work, replete with an abundance of fruit and flowers, Van Os demonstrates his virtuosity with paint. He perfectly captures the soft fuzziness of the peach skin, the dusty bloom on the surface of the black grapes and the tiny water droplets on the petals of the deep-blue bearded iris.

Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980

Considered the Golden Age of Dutch painting, the seventeenth century in the Netherlands witnessed a flourishing of artists and ideas and it is during this period that we see the emergence of the still life or nature morte tradition. Dutch still lifes are replete with symbolism and are not simply portraits of beautiful flowers.

an van Os’s work of the eighteenth century pays homage to those earlier painters, drawing inspiration from the motifs and traditions of this well-established genre. Included in this bountiful bouquet is a vast array of flowers – forget-me-not, iris, rose, auricula, cow parsley and a stunning striped tulip (the passion for tulips in the seventeenth century prompting tulipomania), as well as peaches, grapes and walnuts. Each of these fruit and flowers has its own symbolic meaning, but more generally this work can be interpreted as a vanitas, a sombre reminder of both the beauty and fragility of everyday life. Five elegant butterflies are included in this painting, butterflies being one of the most powerful symbols of the fleeting nature of life: their luminous delicate wings highlight their fragility, while their exceedingly short lifespan reminds us of our own mortality and the transient nature of beauty.

Netherlandish artist Jan van Os was born in the small town of Middelharnis on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the southern part of the country. Spending much of artistic career in The Hague, his works remain as popular and sought-after as they were during his lifetime.

Tansy Curtin, Curator, International Art pre-1980