Human Flower Project
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Thursday, November 06, 2008
Zurbaran: Flowers by Scorpio
When is a rose not just a rose and not a symbol of anything beyond a rose? When painted by one 17th Century Spaniard.
A Cup of Water and a Rose on a Silver Plate
by Francisco de Zurbarán, c. 1630
Collection: National Gallery of Art, London
For your consideration, “A Cup of Water and a Rose on a Silver Plate” by Francisco de Zurbarán (b. November 7, 1598, in Sevilla, Spain).
This small painting, in the collection the National Gallery, London, may be the most stunning of Zurbarán’s floral works, and to our knowledge the only stand-alone version of this still life combination. According to the museum’s curators, he added this compositional detail to two religious paintings (Is this one of them?) and included a nearly identical set in his Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and a Rose, now at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. (We want to call it a triptych.)