Due to a long and successful career that spanned over six decades, she became the best documented female painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

[2] He had a vast collection of animal skeletons, and mineral and botany samples which Rachel used to practice her drawing skills.

[3] At a young age she began to paint the flowers and insects of her father's collection in the popular manner of Otto Marseus van Schrieck.

[4] Working from these samples Rachel matched her father's ability to depict nature with great accuracy.

[citation needed] In 1679, at age fifteen, Ruysch was apprenticed to Willem van Aelst, a prominent flower painter in Amsterdam.

Ruysch continued working as a painter after she married, mostly likely because her contribution to the family's income allowed them to hire help to care for their children.

[5] It is unknown whether Ruysch was a member of the Amsterdam Guild of Saint Luke, but early signed works by her in the 1680s show the influence of Otto Marseus van Schrieck.

Her asymmetrical compositions with drooping flowers and wild stems created paintings that seemed to possess a great energy about them.

In her early work Ruysch painted a large number of forest floor pictures that feature small animals, reptiles, butterflies, and fungi.

[2] In the 17th century the Dutch were very interested in flowers and gardening, so paintings that highlighted the beauty of nature were highly valued.

[12] In 1999 a painting by Ruysch was discovered in a farmhouse in Normandy and was sold at auction for 2.9 million French francs, about US$508,000.