This Bouquet of Flowers in a Serpentine Vase is one of Osias Beert's masterpieces. All the delicacy of his technique and his subtle chromatic harmonies can be found here, forming a majestic bouquet in a modern composition. As a pioneer in the early days of the floral genre, Beert created confident forms with strong tones. While the bouquets produced by his followers after 1620 were full of drama, Beert proposes a more rigorous assembly of flowers here, in favour of an individual interpretation of each bud. It is the beginning of summer: tulips take centre stage along with narcissi, anemones, roses, primroses and irises. The martagon lily and the snake's head fritillary are relegated to the wings. Small butterflies flutter among the buds, making the pink petals fall onto the entablature. The vase used is made of serpentine, which contributes to the great elegance of the whole.

Influenced by Jan Brueghel the Elder, his bouquet is symmetrical and based around a single central axis, with the small flowers at the bottom and the large ones at the top. However, what sets him apart is his work on the depth of field. In addition, the painter covers the entire surface of the panel. With its opulent flowers and a well-filled pictorial space, the great plastic skill of the painter is revealed in the sinuous stems. The heavy leaves bending downwards are also one of his signatures, creating a dense and present volume overall. Beyond the delicate illusionism of the workmanship, the symbolic allusions can easily be detected: the almost spent blooms giving way to their own weight, the petals scattered on the entablature or the small worm holes in the leaves are signs of the ephemeral nature of earthly beauty. The butterflies nevertheless add a delicate note whose symbolism is traditionally associated with the Resurrection of Christ.

The characteristics of Osias Beert's body of work are now well known and there are several paintings of bouquets that particularly stand out owing to the various receptacles portrayed. Besides serpentine, he also features glass, stone or china vases. Another bouquet against a neutral background, executed at the end of his life, is comparable to this one despite its small format; it also features serpentine with its twisted pattern on the body of the vase (Fig. 1). Beert also arranges his flowers in woven baskets, bursting with unique shades of blue and yellow (Fig. 2). The solid colours are slightly embossed and the permanence of the yellow through time makes this a distinctive element of his work. He would certainly have bound his pigments with lead white, which Sam Segal and Klara Alen believe was the cause of his early death. The white highlights are also remarkable; and on the pale roses, we can clearly make out the striking grey shadows. In fact, the vivid traces of his underlying drawing for the petals, executed with black stone, can sometimes be spotted with the naked eye.

Fig. 1: Osias Beert, Bouquet of Flowers in a Serpentine Vase, c. 1615, panel, 35 x 24.5 cm, London, National Gallery, on loan from the collection of Janice and Brian Capstick.

Fig. 2: Osias Beert, Flowers in a Basket and Bouquet in a Chinese Vase, c. 1610-19, panel, 63 x 96.5 cm, private collection.