RACHEL RUYSCH. Rachel Ruysch (spelled also Ruisch or Reutch) trod in the footsteps of Maria van Oosterwyck, and carried flower-painting to a perfection never before attained. Descampes says her flowers and fruit “surpassed nature herself.” It is certain that she succeeded in producing the most perfect illusion; and the tasteful selection of her subject and manner of grouping, disposition, and contrast, rendered the effect more exquisite. This illustrious artist was the daughter of a famous anatomist, and was born in Amsterdam, 1664. She received lessons in painting from Wilhelm van Aelst, an artist who ranked with De Heem and Huysum among Dutch flower-painters. He and his rivals were soon equaled by the fair scholar, and thenceforward she took nature for her teacher. While her fame went abroad with her pictures, Rachel sat and worked in her secluded room; but she could not hide herself from the arrows of the boy-god. She married--Descampes and others say, at the age of thirty--a portrait-painter named Julian van Pool, who fell in love, and introduced himself to her. She became the mother of ten children. In the midst of domestic cares, and the duties of attending to her offspring, she managed not to neglect the art she loved so much; yet we are informed that her children were admirably brought up. The toil and study must have been immense which, in spite of the interruptions of household employments and the depression of a narrow income, enabled her to attain such excellence that her praises were sung by poets and poetesses, and her fame traveled to every court in Europe. In 1701 the Academical Society of Haye admitted her into membership; her reception picture was a beautiful piece of roses and other flowers. Her celebrity became so great that, in 1708, the Elector John of the Pfalz sent her a diploma, naming her painter in ordinary to his court, and inviting her to take up her residence in his capital. This prince wrote her another letter, accompanying the gift of a complete toilet set in silver, twenty-eight pieces, to which he added six flambeaux of the same metal. He promised to stand godfather to one of her children. When she took her son to Düsseldorf, the elector decorated the babe’s neck with a red ribbon, to which was attached a magnificent gold medal. In the elector’s service she produced a number of pictures, most of them for her Mæcenas, who after paying for them always added honorable presents. In 1713, on a second visit to Düsseldorf, she was received with the distinction her great talents merited. The elector sent some of her pictures to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, who admired and placed them among his rich collection of master-pieces. Several of her works were presented to royal personages; some were treasured in the gallery of Düsseldorf, and some excellent pictures were preserved in Munich.