Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/578

548 Painting and flowers, lived chiefly at Antwerp, where his works were highly prized, and even in his own time fetched very high sums, so true to nature was his representation of fruit and flowers. Good works by him are in the galleries of Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam and the Hague. His son Cornelis de Heem followed in his father's footsteps with success. Jan van Huysum (1682 — 1749) among the painters of flowers stands pre-eminent. The smiling Vases of Flowers, far preferable to the dark Bouquets of Baptiste Monnoyer — who was brought forward as a rival to Van Huysum in the time of Madame de Pompadour — are varied and im- proved by agreeable accessories, such as the vases them- selves elaborately carved, the marble stands, and brilliant insects, the flowers of animal life. Two flowers-pieces by Van Huysum are in the National Gallery. He is also well represented in the Dulwich Gallery, and in many private collections in England. His works abound on the Continent. Rachel Ruysch (1664 — 1750) is still considered the rival of Van Huysum. Of her works the Rotterdam Museum possesses a -Flower-piece; the gallery at the Hague, two more ; and the Six Collection, another pair of Flower-pieces. The end of the seventeenth and the whole of the eighteenth century were marked by a rapid decline in the art of painting, both in Holland and Belgium ; and not until the present century was considerably advanced was there any definite or important revival. Until about 1830, the classic style of David was copied in Belgium ; and in Holland the traditions of the old Dutch School were faith- fully followed ; scenes of everyday life, landscapes, cattle,