Flowers

DÍAZ, Diego Valentín (b. 1586, Valladolid, d. 1680, Valladolid)
Vase of Flowers c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 48 x 39 cm
Museo Diocesano y Catedralicio, Valladolid

In the 17th century, many Spanish paintings of flowers were hung in churches and other religious institutions.

They were substitutes for the real things.

Nowadays in churches we rely on the real thing. Flowers, like everything else, are mass-produced and mass-transited.

Flower arranging is, of course, an art in itself. Perhaps we should be more appreciative of those who do the floral decoration in churches. It is only at weddings and funerals, perhaps, that the flower arranging is only noticed and seen as the hard work and effort that it is.