Name Anna Ruysch | Died 1741 | |
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Life
Anna Elisabeth Ruysch was the daughter of Dutch botanist and anatomist Frederik Ruysch and his wife Maria Post, and the younger sister of painter Rachel Ruysch. When Anna was an infant the Ruysch family moved from The Hague to Amsterdam. There Frederik Ruysch exhibited anatomical still lifes consisting of insects, flowers, and plants that would become subjects for Anna and Rachel Ruysch. At the age of 15 or 16 Rachel was apprenticed to still life painter Willem van Aelst, and it is assumed that Anna was as well.
Anna Ruysch stopped painting when she married the paint dealer Isaak Hellenbroek. After her husband's death, Anna and her son continued to run his paint business. Anna died at age 87 in Amsterdam where her family lived on the Damrak.
Works
Both Anna and her sister Rachel Ruysch painted in the same style and painted the same subjects: flowers, fruit, and small animals. Because Anna Ruysch rarely signed her work, there are only a small number of paintings attributed with certainty to her.
In 2007, a still life by Anna Ruysch sold at auction for £50,900.