In the first half of the eighteenth century, Rachel Ruysch was celebrated across Europe for her sumptuous floral still lifes. Admired for both its artistry and its meticulous depictions of flowers, fruit, and insects, her work was largely overlooked in the centuries following her death. The book introduces today’s audiences to Ruysch’s achievements and explores the pioneering roles of women artists and scientists in the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.