Flowers

Jan van Os
Netherlands
1744 – 1808

Flowers
c 1780s?
oil on wood panel
Currently on display, Gallery 16
Place made
The Hague, Netherlands
Medium
oil on wood panel
Dimensions
70.5 x 61.0 cm
110.0 x 105.0 x 15.0 cm (Frame)
Credit line
Gift of Gladys Penfold Hyland in memory of her husband Frank 1964
Accession number
0.2027
Signature and date
signed l.r. on pedestal in brown oil "J Van Os Pinxit". Not dated
Provenance
Acquired by Frank (1873–1948) and Gladys (1886–1974) Penfold Hyland before 1934; donated by Gladys Penfold Hyland (1886–1974), Toft Monks, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, 1964.
Media category
Painting
Collection area
European paintings

  • 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