Ruysch was a meticulous observer of nature, an artist whose insects seem real enough to buzz out of their frames. Ruysch’s work was distinctive in the world of flower painting because it absorbed and projected this knowledge. Ruysch painted a female of the species with three little toadlets popping out of its back. In the 17th century, flower painting could serve a variety of ends. By the 1710s, at the peak of her career, Ruysch was painting flower and fruit pieces so monumental, abundant and complicated that you can barely see the background peeking through.