Snowballs, daffodils, tulips, roses and other flowers in a wicker basket on a ledge

The leading flower painter in seventeenth-century Spain, Juan de Arellano trained as a history painter in the studio of Juan de Solís in Madrid, not taking up still life until his thirties. He did so under the inspiration of the work of the leading Flemish and Italian flower painters that became popular in Madrid in the middle of the century - in particular Mario Nuzzi, whose work Arellano admired and copied, and Daniel Seghers.