Anna Ruysch

Painting of tulips and roses in a vase on a marble table, attributed to Anna Ruysch (previously attributed to Ernst Stuven). Anna Ruysch (baptized 19 December 1666, in The Hague – buried 7 January 1754, in Amsterdam) was a Dutch Golden Age flower painter.

Life

Anna Ruysch (sometimes called Anna Elisabeth Ruysch) was the daughter of Maria Post and Frederik Ruysch, a preeminent botanist and anatomist. She was the younger sister of painter Rachel Ruysch. When Anna was an infant the Ruysch family moved from The Hague to Amsterdam, where they lived on the Bloemgracht (flower canal). There Frederik Ruysch was a professor of anatomy and botany and supervisor of the Amsterdam botanical garden. He exhibited anatomical still lifes consisting of insects, flowers, and plants that would become subjects for Anna and Rachel Ruysch. At the age of 15 or 16 Rachel was apprenticed to still life painter Willem van Aelst, and it is assumed that Anna was as well. Rachel also trained with Maria Sibylla Merian, and it is possible Anna did too.

Anna Ruysch painted less frequently after she married the paint dealer Isaak Hellenbroek on July 6, 1688. In 2022 one of her still life paintings was sold at auction for £201,600 and another £327,000.