Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge

The 1650 date attributed to this Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is puzzling, as Ambrosius Bosschaert died in 1621. If the date is accurate, this work cannot be by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder but may be by one of his sons — most likely Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger (1609–1645), who was active in Delft and Utrecht and continued his father's flower painting tradition. The attribution to the family workshop or a follower is a recurring issue with the Bosschaert circle, whose members worked in sufficiently similar styles that documentary evidence is needed to separate them. Regardless of precise attribution, the work represents the continuation and development of the Bosschaert flower painting tradition into the mid-seventeenth century, when it was competing with the more elaborate and dramatically lit flower pieces of Jan Davidsz. de Heem and his contemporaries.

A mid-century Bosschaert-circle flower piece would show the influence of competition from de Heem and others: richer colour, more varied lighting, and a greater willingness to include luxury accessories on the ledge alongside the bouquet. The fundamental technique remains panel-based and methodically layered, but the overall effect may be somewhat more theatrical than the strict, even light of the elder Bosschaert's work.