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Oil on wood panel. Signed lower right: “Schuster 1841. fecit”. A bouquet of roses in the foreground is augmented with lilies, bellflowers and other tiny flowers to round out the composition. The bouquet is arranged in a blue vase with gold decorations and placed in a niche. The beautiful composition with details of flowers and insects is the precise Biedermeier-era work of Josef Schuster, an artist who specialized in period still lifes. As a child the painter moved to Vienna, where his talent happened to be discovered by Joseph Mössmer (1780–1845), a professor at the Academy. In addition to his education under Joseph Mössmer, the young painter also studied under Sebastian Wegmayr (1776–1857) and Franz Xaver Petter (1791–1866). Schuster lived and worked in the spa town of Bad Gastein, and later for his patron, Archduke John of Austria. He remained devoted to still-life motifs, especially in the Alpine floral colors and styles.