Bloemstudie van een rode en een bruine bloem 1677 - 1755

Elias van Nijmegen created this flower study using pen in brown and brush in watercolor. Van Nijmegen was working in the Dutch Golden Age, a period of unprecedented economic and cultural flourishing for the Netherlands. However, alongside the immense wealth generated by global trade, there was also a dark side to this prosperity. The Dutch East India Company, for example, played a major role in the transatlantic slave trade. Despite the growing interest in natural sciences and botanical studies, the complex social dynamics and economic forces behind these endeavors often went unacknowledged. Consider the flowers depicted here. They were, in a sense, luxury items, symbols of beauty and status acquired through global exchange. But their presence also prompts us to think about what may have been overlooked in the pursuit of beauty. How do these flower studies reflect the nuanced and sometimes contradictory values of the Dutch Golden Age?