Dutch School, 18th century
Bouquet with a Butterfly
Oil on canvas

Unsigned. 14 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches (36 x 29 cm), the frame 18 ½ x 15 ¼ inches (47 x 39 cm). Gilt frame. Relined and stable, with fine craquelure and small losses in the dark ground.

The weave of the canvas reads through the petals of the rose. The paint is laid that thinly. The rose sits low in a short glass of water on a stone ledge and holds all the light in the picture, with two blue morning glories beside it, white narcissus above, a marigold at the right and a tall spike of white and pink flowers rising over the rest. Everything behind them goes to brown.

The bouquet is lit from the left, and the water in the glass catches a thin line of the same light. A white butterfly with dark tips has settled on the ledge to the right of the glass, the palest note in the lower half.