Not for Sale, Painted approx 1999, artist unknown

The Dutch and Flemish took extraordinary delight in depictions of the natural world as an expression of God’s everlasting blessing. The flower paintings celebrate the beauty of flora while at the same time exemplifying the concept of Ars longa, vita brevis  (art is long, life is short) embodied in the Dutch still-life paintings of the seventeenth century. It reflected the great interest in botany at that time, and this work includes exotic flowers and plants brought back from faraway places.