Miffy Flowers

Miffy

Miffy was created in 1955 after Dick Bruna had been telling his one-year-old son, Sierk, stories about a little rabbit they had seen earlier in the dunes, while on holiday at Egmond aan Zee. Miffy became a female after Bruna decided that he wanted to draw a dress and not trousers on his rabbit. Depending on the story, Miffy can range in age from being a baby to being four years old.

At first Miffy looked like a toy animal with floppy ears, but by 1963, her design was changed to her current incarnation, a stylized form of a rabbit. Miffy is drawn in a graphic style, with minimalist black graphic lines. Bruna chose to only use black, white, the primary colours (red, yellow and blue), green, orange, brown, and gray. It is his use of primarily primary colors that makes Miffy instantly recognisable, and also popular with preschoolers, because of her bright and intense simplistic colours.

There are now almost 32 Miffy titles and many more for the other characters. Bruna has produced a total of 124 picture books for children.

(source and more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miffy)

Jan Davidsz. de Heem

Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1683/1684) grew up in Utrecht, where he was apprenticed to floral still-life artist Balthasar van der Ast. In 1626, he moved to Leiden, where he painted monochrome still lifes employing one or at most two tints. His subjects were mainly musical instruments and books. De Heem moved to Antwerp after 1631. Here his paintings became increasingly colourful and elegant. He also changed his theme, concentrating more on fruit and flowers. Although he lived most of his life in Antwerp, De Heem continued to spend periods in the Republic: he was in Utrecht in 1649 and between 1665 and 1672. Jan Davidsz de Heem’s work was popular among the buying public and among fellow artists. His many pupils and followers included Abraham Mignon.