Still Life

Juan de Arellano was considered the preeminent painter of flowers in 17th-century Spain. He studied and was influenced by the flower paintings of the Roman painter, Mario Nuzzi (1603-1673), and the earlier Flemish artists, Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) and Daniel Seghers (1590-1661). While he initially painted primarily religious scenes, according to one of his colleagues, de Arellano decided to shift his focus exclusively to floral paintings, because he could get paid more for less work. He was well aware of the decorative nature of this genre and of the contemporary taste for displaying them.