014 - RACHEL RUYSCH

After Belgium, I went to the Netherlands. I try to refer to this country as Holland because I don’t like adding the in front of names that aren’t band names, but an American saying Holland sounds pretentious and also I don’t know if it’s entirely accurate. All of this makes me uncomfortable, like answering America when asked where I’m from because America has a north and a south and then within its north, there are two countries, the United States and Canada. But these are my problems to work through and overcome. I started to reply, “I’m from California.” It’s always met with a smile.

So anyway, Léa wanted to visit Amsterdam. I had been seven years ago and was shocked to see a canal-city flooded with tourists. I asked our Airbnb host what happened. He said the government invested in campaigns to attract tourists and it worked so well, they’re now investing in campaigns to discourage tourists. It felt like the beach on the 4th of July or Disneyland. He agreed and made an expression like “I don’t know what to think about it all, but I’m making money from it, so…”

When visiting a new country, I have three small goals: visit more than one city, move away from the tourists and send a postcard to someone back home. So, it was up to me to choose the second city. I was ready to get away from the crowds. I texted two friends: an American who studied abroad in this country and a Dutch guy I met in Brazil years ago. I never heard back from the local, but my American friend fired back: “Go to The Hague! It’s chill, has a beach, and great art!”

I introduce to you: Rachel Ruysch

The most famous museum in The Hague is called Mauritshuis. It was built as a private residence, but has been operating as a museum the past 200 years! It’s home to several works by Rembrandt and a painting I saw promoted all over the Netherlands like the card of a title fight in Las Vegas: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, 1665.

Now, I definitely recognize the name Rembrandt. I know it’s one of the huge ones. Whenever your name is recognized as a single name, you’ve done something grand. The name Vermeer also sounds familiar but much more vaguely. I can’t quite place it and quickly shift to thinking about the word veneer, which is an economic fix to the floors in your home or a costly addition to the teeth in your mouth. My knowledge of all the above ends here. I was excited to learn more and see their work in person.

As I walked through the rooms of the museum, I saw too many ancient and beautiful artworks. An Amsterdam-sized crowd was in front of the Girl With a Pearl Earring, so I switched rooms to see a painting that completely stopped me in my tracks. My mind was blown. William van Haecht’s painting of nearly 50 miniature paintings (I counted): Apelles Painting Campaspe, 1630.

Eventually, I gathered and reassembled the pieces of my mind and moved on, but what really happened was Léa said, “Okay, enough of this one. Let’s go.” I think I could’ve stayed staring at that painting for a long time. Room after room, we saw paintings done by men, but then we read “Rachel Ruysch, 1664-1750, Vase of Flowers, 1700” on a title card to the right of a wonderfully lively, but dying bouquet of flowers. “Whoa,” I thought. “Rachel Ruysch. You’re a badass.” Her work hung next to Rembrandt’s.

After the museum visit, I read up on Rachel Ruysch. She was the daughter of a famous scientist who invented an embalming process which allowed his subjects to maintain a unique liveness in their dead form. This development afforded Rachel extra time to study and paint the fine detail of these objects. She had a long and successful career as a painter all while being a mother to ten children. And when still living, Rachel’s work fetched a higher price than Rembrandt’s. But earning from her art became less necessary when at 59 years old, she won the lottery.

The museum shop had a wall of postcards for sale and because Léa’s quicker than me at everything we do, I asked her to please help me find Rachel Ruysch’s painting. As I scanned row by row, Léa handed me the card. I asked her how she found it so quickly and she said it was easy because it’s the only flower arrangement with an empty space in the center. I looked closer at the card and sure enough, Ruysch painted wilting flowers around a cut stem. One flower removed from the rest. Something I haven’t seen before. Something symbolic of Rachel and her legacy in the art world. “What a badass,” I smiled. From my second city in the Netherlands, The Hague, I sent the postcard to my niece. — Phillip Dillon