
Read the visual description
A bouquet of flowers against a dark brown background hangs from a sapphire-blue bow to fill this vertical still life painting. The three largest blooms make a pyramid at the center. A pale pink, flat-leaved carnation is to the lower right of this trio. A red and white striped tulip with flame-shaped petals is next to it, to our right, and a white viburnum bloom, which is made of dozens of smaller clusters, is above. A tan-colored spider builds a web at the center of these three blossoms. Using the face of a clock to work around this trio, we find a spotted bug on a smaller viburnum and some frosty green leaves at noon. A muted orange moth rests on a stalk nearby. Down the right side, the layered vivid blue petals of a love-in-the-mist explode like a starburst. Two coral-red peonies, a mostly closed peony, a topaz-blue morning glory, and the fuzzy fingers of amaranth bring us to six o’clock. Up the left side are delicate pink crab apple blossoms, a spray of Chinese lanterns, a yellow rose with ants crawling across its splayed petals, a striped morning glory, and a few blue, orange, and red buds. A caterpillar rears up on a Chinese lantern bud and a ladybug sits on a leaf nearby. A few stalks of wheat are scattered throughout. Stems weave through the blue ribbon at the top, which is tied around a protruding nail. The artist signed the lower left corner, “AB Mignon f,” with the AB conjoined in a monogram.
National Gallery of Art · Painting
A Hanging Bouquet of Flowers
Abraham Mignon
- Date
- probably 1665/1670
- Medium
- oil on panel
- Dimensions
- overall: 38.1 x 29.9 cm (15 x 11 3/4 in.) overall (with additions): 39 x 31.1 cm (15 3/8 x 12 1/4 in.) framed: 53.3 x 45.1 x 6.4 cm (21 x 17 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.)
- Classification
- Painting
- Accession number
- 1992.51.5
- Credit line
- Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon
- Time span
- 1651 to 1700
- Department
- CNE-B
Subjects and terms
- painted surface
- Baroque
- Dutch
- Flower
- still life
- still
- Still life
- Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century (NGA Online Editions)
Provenance
Private collection, England;[1] (John Mitchell & Son, London); purchased November 1961 by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1992 to NGA. [1] Correspondence from Peter Mitchell, 22 June 1992 (in NGA curatorial files). The painting may have come to Mitchell from a Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin (Antiques) Ltd., for it is noted as having been in Phillips' possession by Sydney H. Pavière, _Floral Art: Great Masters of Flower Painting_, Leigh-on-Sea, 1965: 32.
Inscription
lower left: AB (in ligature) Mignon f.
NGA object ID 76211. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.