Dutch Flowers

When: 07 October 2023 to 07 January 2024
Where: The Box, Tavistock Place, Plymouth PL4 8AX
Time: 10am - 5pm
Cost: Admission free. No need to book.
Suitable for: Any age

This exquisite exhibition explores the development of Dutch flower painting from its beginnings in the early 1600s, to its blossoming in the late 1700s.

Teeming with beauty, colour and life, Dutch flower painting captivated an age. These popular studies blossomed throughout the 1600s and 1700s, combining meticulous technique and rich detail with abundant, often fantastical compositions.

This exhibition brings ten of the finest examples from the National Gallery to Plymouth for the very first time.

See works by leading artists in the field including Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder ((1573–1621), Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) and Jan van Huysum (1682–1749).

Specially commissioned works by British artist Kedisha Coakley that explore the relationship between the trade in fruit, flowers and seeds and empire are also be on display, encouraging you to reconsider social and historical narratives from a different perspective.

The Box has also selected a number of related works from its permanent art collection for display, including examples of Iznik pottery from the former Ottoman Empire and 17th century Dutch ceramics, an oil painting by Dutch artist Jan Weenix (1641/1649-1719) and a rare volume of illustrations by renowned entomologist and botanical artist Meria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717).

Closed for Christmas/New Year on 23, 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and 1 January.

Image credit: Jacob van Walscapelle (1644-1727), Flowers in a Glass Vase, about 1670 (detail) © The National Gallery, London.