Mistletoe, Floris Verster (1897)
This drawing appears to be a tribute to the color white: the fallen berry of the mistletoe rests like a pearl on the white background. Alongside his fascination with nature, Verster, like many of his contemporaries, has a deep interest in Japanese prints and artifacts. In his studio, he keeps Japanese items close at hand, including this soy sauce jar adorned with blue-painted figures. This so-called ‘japonica’ is well-known in Leiden, particularly due to the famous collection of Philipp Franz von Siebold housed at 19 Rapenburg, just a stone’s throw from Verster’s childhood home.
