Little is known about Vincent Laurentsz van der Vinne. He was born to an artistic family in Haarlem in 1686; his father, Laurens Vincentsz was a painter, as were his...
Little is known about Vincent Laurentsz van der Vinne. He was born to an artistic family in Haarlem in 1686; his father, Laurens Vincentsz was a painter, as were his brothers Jacob and Jan Laurensz. Like his father, he mostly painted landscapes - often featuring his native Haarlem, such as his Courtyard of the Proveniershof, now kept in the Frans Hals Museum - and still life subjects, often singular plants or flowers.
The present sheet depicts a sprig of Mirabilis Jalapa, otherwise known as the Marvel of Peru or the four 'o clock flower. As its name suggests, it was first discovered in South America, but as it could be cultivated with relative ease in Northern Europe too, by the seventeenth century it had found its way there.