Joseph von Pichler (also Püchler) was an Austrian painter specialised in flower painting. From 1752 he studied with Vinzenz Fischer at the School of Architectural Drawing in Vienna. It is not clear how he became a flower painter.
The present flower piece was submitted for the Vienna Academy as a reception piece. The inclusion of a park vista as an extension of the stone balustrade and vase was based on the decorative bouquets by an artist like Jan van Huysum. However, Pichler went a completely different way in his use of colour, banishing blue from the palette.
