During her lifetime, seventeenth century artist Maria van Oosterwyck was internationally celebrated as one of the leading Dutch painters. Today, van Oosterwyck’s paintings remain highly sought after, in part due to the artist’s remarkable attention to detail, as shown in Still life with flowers and butterflies, 1668.

In an informal conversation in front of the painting, Alastair Robinson, Manager of Biodiversity Services at the Royal Botanic Gardens, shares insights with NGV Curator Laurie Benson into the various plants we can identify in the seventeenth century painting and the clues they reveal about society, trade and industry at the time.