Jan van der Waarden lived his entire life in Haarlem, where he painted colorful, lush and meticulous still lifes. The painter was able to admire the most exotic specimens in full bloom in the Haarlem nurseries. Van der Waarden depicted not only flowers, but also fruit, plants and insects in detail on canvas. His floral and fruit pieces are, due to the artful composition and precise elaboration of details, still entirely in the tradition of the 18th-century flower still life.