Still Life with Flowers

Nicolaes van Verendael learnt the art of painting from his father Willem van Verendael in Antwerp. He painted his floral arrangements in the style of Daniël Seghers and Jan Brueghel the Elder, the so-called ‘Velvet Brueghel’. This small bouquet in a glass bowl, with a white butterfly at the top right, is typical of his work. Besides the idea of transience, flower arrangements such as these also bore witness to the skill of the artist, since it was easy for anyone to compare the subject with the model. Van Verendael did not only paint floral works and still lifes with game or poultry. He was also known as a painter of ‘monkey scenes’ in the style of David Teniers I, in which monkeys imitate human behaviour; a metaphor for the artist who also similarly imitates reality.