I think about it when it comes to the formal portraits or history paintings.

The level of detail!

But another genre that astonishes me in this regard is the realistic, highly glazed floral bouquet.

And in particular, this one by Jan van Huysum.

What an unbelievable piece!

Try to fathom the time it would take to create this, much of it painted using a slow build-up of thin layers of oil paint, layer after layer after layer of color, allowing each application to dry before applying the next.

This means each drying time could take days or even weeks.

And look at all the individual objects, each piece of fruit, each flower, plus the classical misty structures in the background, something brought over from his Italian landscape work.

And consider that this was painted in the early 1700s, before the development of the camera.

This means there were no photo references.

You had to work from live fruit and fresh flowers, replacing them as they faded, which many people do today, but back then you had no choice.

And you couldn't always access the flowers you need.

For example, one time in particular, Huysum had to delay the completion of a commission for an entire year so he could purchase a yellow rose as a reference.

Another thing to consider is that these paintings were painted before the development of paint tubes and manufactured paint.

Artists at that time had to grind and mix their own paints, unless they had assistants.

But Huysum likely did the grinding and mixing himself, since he never allowed people into his studio when he was creating.

He was extremely protective of his process, not even allowing his artist brothers into the room when he worked.

He did take on a handful of students, however, including one woman recommended by his uncle.

Margaretha Haverman studied under Jan until, rumor has it, her level of talent caused him to part ways with her.

Now I could criticize his level of competitiveness, but it's possible that this aspect of his When Jan first started painting these floral paintings, his backgrounds were dark.

But as he progressed through his career, he began to lighten the background and eventually started adding aspects of his Italian landscapes, as we saw in the main piece that I feature.

Sometimes he would paint on copper substrate, and that tended to give those paintings a little bit of a warm glow.

Unlike many artists in history, Jan profited greatly from his work, dying a very wealthy man, and leaving the world with some astonishing paintings to enjoy.

My question is, do we have this level of patience and devotion to craft today?