Ambrosius Bosschaert, Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase, 1621, 32 x 22 cm, Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Patrons' Permanent Fund and New Century Fund the bouquet of flowers has grown to occupy the whole picture, and the figures have disappeared. Throughout the 17th and the 18th century thousands of paintings of flowers, plants and fruits were made. The ones at the top level are truly extraordinary. Here one sees a red and white tulip and a yellow iris above the other flowers an plants. They are all carefully and artfully arranged. Insects were often included in flower paintings. This satisfied the taste for realism of the time. A book by the Greek writer Philostratus the Elder described an ancient painting with flowers and a bee. It was impossible to know when looking at that picture he wrote if he once saw was a real bee that had been fooled by the skilful depiction of the flower, or if it was people who looks at the painting, that were fooled by the realistic representation of both the flower and the bee. Painting in a way that made objects seem real was referred to as "Trompe-l'Å“il", a French term that means "deceive the eye".
