Two Persian Buttercups (<i>Ranunculus asiaticus</i>)

This study of peonies is clearly intended for a decorative rather than a scientific purpose. Simon Verelst was a noted Dutch painter of flower pieces - decorative compositions in which the artist brought together flowers that would never bloom simultaneously in nature. To create such a composition an artist would work through the seasons to build up a collection of drawings and watercolour studies, such as this, to work from. We know that it was a widespread practice for artists to work from their own 'library' of sketches because it is sometime possible to identify a sketch with the same specimen in a finished oil painting or to find the same flower repeated in different paintings.