De Poolse Muts (c. 1620–30): Art, History and Details
De Poolse Muts at the Cleveland Museum of Art: c. 1620–30, brush and watercolor in red, green, and yellow with white heightening or grey wash on antique laid cream paper. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection histor
De Poolse Muts (c. 1620–30) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Balthasar van der Ast (Dutch, 1593/94–1657).
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
Still-life painting began in the Northern Netherlands (present-day Holland) around the turn of the 1600s. Still-life painter Balthasar van der Ast made this precise botanical study of a pink carnation as a reference that he could add later to a painting of an elaborate bouquet of flowers. Van der Ast inscribed the name “The Polish Cap,” on the sheet to suggest that the flower came from foreign lands.
Object facts
- Title: De Poolse Muts
- Date: c. 1620–30
- Creator attribution: Balthasar van der Ast (Dutch, 1593/94–1657)
- Culture: Netherlands
- Type: Drawing
- Technique: brush and watercolor in red, green, and yellow with white heightening or grey wash on antique laid cream paper
- Dimensions: Support: 37.5 x 26.7 cm (14 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.); Matted: 49.7 x 39.1 x 0.3 cm (19 9/16 x 15 3/8 x 1/8 in.); Image: 30.3 x 19.9 cm (11 15/16 x 7 13/16 in.)
- Collection: DR - Dutch
- Department: Drawings
- Accession number: 2019.1
A detail from the museum
According to Christian legend, carnations appeared when the Virgin Mary shed tears as Jesus carried the cross, thus the flower’s traditional association with Mother’s Day.
Collection credit
John L. Severance Fund
Further reading listed by the museum
- Bol, Laurens J. The Bosschaert Dynasty: Painters of Flowers and Fruit. 1960.
- Bol, Laurens J. 'Goede onbekenden': Hedendaagse herkenning en waardering vanverscholen, voorbijgezien en onderschat talent. Utrecht, 1982
- Luijten, Ger. Dawn of the Golden Age: Northern Netherlandish Art, 1580-1620. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1993.
View the collection record
See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.
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