I think about it when it comes to the formal portraits or history paintings.

當涉及到正式的肖像畫或歷史畫時，我就會想到這一點。

The level of detail!

詳細程度！

But another genre that astonishes me in this regard is the realistic, highly glazed floral bouquet.

但在這方面，另一個讓我感到驚訝的流派是逼真的高光花束。

And in particular, this one by Jan van Huysum.

尤其是 Jan van Huysum 的這幅作品。

What an unbelievable piece!

多麼令人難以置信的作品！

Try to fathom the time it would take to create this, much of it painted using a slow build-up of thin layers of oil paint, layer after layer after layer of color, allowing each application to dry before applying the next.

試想一下創作這幅畫需要花費多少時間，其中大部分都是用薄薄的油畫顏料一層又一層地慢慢塗抹而成，每塗一層都要等其乾透後再塗抹下一層。

This means each drying time could take days or even weeks.

這意味著每次乾燥可能需要幾天甚至幾周的時間。

And look at all the individual objects, each piece of fruit, each flower, plus the classical misty structures in the background, something brought over from his Italian landscape work.

再看看所有的單個物體，每一個水果，每一朵花，再加上背景中古典縹緲的結構，這些都是從他的意大利風景畫作品中引入的。

And consider that this was painted in the early 1700s, before the development of the camera.

考慮到這幅畫作於 1700 年代早期繪製，當時照相機尚未問世。

This means there were no photo references.

這意味著沒有照片參考。

You had to work from live fruit and fresh flowers, replacing them as they faded, which many people do today, but back then you had no choice.

今天，許多人都這樣做，但在當時，你別無選擇。

And you couldn't always access the flowers you need.

而且，你也不一定能買到你需要的鮮花。

For example, one time in particular, Huysum had to delay the completion of a commission for an entire year so he could purchase a yellow rose as a reference.

例如，有一次，為了能買到一朵黃玫瑰作為參考，Huysum 不得不延後一整年才完成一件委託作品。

Another thing to consider is that these paintings were painted before the development of paint tubes and manufactured paint.

另一個需要考慮的問題是，這些畫作是在顏料管和人造顏料發展之前繪製的。

Artists at that time had to grind and mix their own paints, unless they had assistants.

當時的藝術家必須自己研磨和調配顏料，除非他們有助手。

But Huysum likely did the grinding and mixing himself, since he never allowed people into his studio when he was creating.

但 Huysum 很可能自己完成了打磨和混音工作，因為他在創作時從不允許別人進入他的工作室。

He was extremely protective of his process, not even allowing his artist brothers into the room when he worked.

他對自己的創作過程極度保護，甚至不允許他的藝術家兄弟在他工作時進入房間。

He did take on a handful of students, however, including one woman recommended by his uncle.

不過，他還是收了幾個學生，其中包括他叔叔推薦的一位女學生。

Margaretha Haverman studied under Jan until, rumor has it, her level of talent caused him to part ways with her.

瑪格麗塔-哈弗曼曾師從揚，直到有傳言說，她的天賦讓揚與她分道揚鑣。

Now I could criticize his level of competitiveness, but it's possible that this aspect of his When Jan first started painting these floral paintings, his backgrounds were dark.

現在，我可以責備他的好勝心，但有可能是他這方面的原因。 楊剛開始畫這些花卉畫時，他的背景是深色的。

But as he progressed through his career, he began to lighten the background and eventually started adding aspects of his Italian landscapes, as we saw in the main piece that I feature.

但隨著職業生涯的發展，他開始淡化背景，並最終開始加入意大利風景畫的元素，正如我在主要作品中看到的那樣。

Sometimes he would paint on copper substrate, and that tended to give those paintings a little bit of a warm glow.

有時，他會在銅質基底上作畫，這往往會讓畫作散發出一點溫暖的光芒。

Unlike many artists in history, Jan profited greatly from his work, dying a very wealthy man, and leaving the world with some astonishing paintings to enjoy.

與歷史上許多藝術家不同的是，楊從他的作品中獲得了巨大的收益，死後成為一個非常富有的人，併為世人留下了一些令人驚歎的畫作。

My question is, do we have this level of patience and devotion to craft today?

我的問題是，今天我們對手工藝有這樣的耐心和奉獻精神嗎？