Page:Women in the Fine Arts From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentiet.djvu/411

304 "Arrest of the Duchess of Burgundy in Bruges," 1841, are in the Dijon Museum.

Ruysch, Rachel. The perfection of flower-painting is seen in the works of Rachel Ruysch. The daughter of a distinguished professor of anatomy, she was born at Amsterdam in 1664. She was for a time a pupil of William van Aelst, but soon studied from nature alone. Some art critics esteem her works superior to those of De Heem and Van Huysum. Let that be as it may, the pictures with which she was no doubt dissatisfied when they passed from her hand more than two centuries ago are greatly valued to-day and her genius is undisputed.

When thirty years old Rachel Ruysch married the portrait painter, Julian van Pool. She bore him ten children, but in the midst of all her cares she never laid her brush aside. Her reputation extended to every court of Europe. She received many honors, and was elected to the Academical Society at The Hague. She was received with distinguished courtesies on the two occasions when she visited Dusseldorf. The Elector John of Pfalz appointed her painter at his court, and beyond paying her generously for her pictures, bestowed valuable gifts on her. The Elector sent several of her works to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and to other distinguished rulers of that day.

The advance of years in no wise dulled her powers. Her pictures painted when eighty years old are as delicately finished as those of many years earlier. She died when eighty-six, "respected by the great, beloved even by her rivals, praised by all who knew her."