Happy New Year ✨ While the Gallery is closed today, we're taking a closer look at Jacob van Walscapelle's stunning still life 'Flowers in a Glass Vase'. The luxuriant flowers in this depiction loom out of the darkness, a single beam of light illuminating them. These flowers could not have been in bloom at the same time, nor could the summer strawberries at one end of the shelf be ripe at the same time as the luscious autumn blackberries at the other. Here, van Walscapelle isn’t just painting a scientific study – he’s painting a celebration of nature. He paints fresh, spring violas, the tulip already fading to make room for summer lilies, roses, and carnations. The ripe ears of wheat, their leaves and long stems already faded and brittle, straggle through the picture. They represent autumn, and the end of the cycle. It’s as if we are moving through all the seasons in a single glance. Jacob van Walscapelle, 'Flowers in a Glass Vase', about 1670 © The National Gallery, London. #ArtHistory #NewYear #Painting #NationalGallery #Flowers #StillLife