Belief in nature

Nature as God's revelation was in the Golden Age the 'sensus communis' of daily life. This thought is strongly apparent in the art of that day and age. The core of this exposition is formed by the collection of 16th and 17th century 'Floral still lives' and 'set tables', a collection that belongs to a British couple. Guest curator Sam Segal was from the very beginning part of this extraordinary private collection. Many of these still lives, painted by a.o. Balthasar van der Ast, Ambrosius Bosschaert I, Jan Davidsz, de Heem, Osias Beert, Jan van Huysum en Rachel Ruysch, aremade available to the public for the first time ever. In this book Segal shows the variety of meanings behind the seemingly simply drawn still lives. Exhibition: Bijbels Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (27.4.-30.9.2012).