Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) was a Dutch artist who specialized in still-life paintings of flowers.

She was born in The Hague, Netherlands, but moved to Amsterdam with her family when she was three, and worked there for much of her life. Her father Frederik Ruysch was a botanist, which may have influenced her choice of subject. At 15 Ruysch was apprenticed to Willem van Aelst, a prominent Dutch painter known for his flower paintings.

In 1701 Ruysch was inducted to the painters' guild in The Hague. Several years later Ruysch was invited to Düsseldorf to serve as court painter to Johann Wilhelm, the Elector Palatine of Bavaria. She remained there from 1708 until the prince's death in 1716. After she returned to Holland, Ruysch kept painting for her prominent clients until she was into her eighties.

She was married to a portrait painter, Juriaen Pool (1666-1745), with whom she had ten children.

External links

• National Museum for Women in the Arts: Paintings by Rachel Ruysch

• Old Masters: Overlooked Women Artists