Study of a Tulip (Perregoen Machieu)

c. 1645

Study of a Tulip (Perregoen Machieu), c. 1645. Pieter Holsteyn II (Dutch, c.1612–1673). Point of brush and transparent and opaque watercolors with traces of graphite and gum glazing on antique laid paper; sheet: 36 x 27.3 cm (14 3/16 x 10 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.133 This image of a tulip was made as part of a tulip book used as a grower’s marketing tool during the so-called tulip mania, a speculative bubble in 17th-century Holland, when ten tulip bulbs could cost more than a stately Amsterdam canal house. The striations on the tulip, which were caused by a virus in the bulb, made it especially valuable. Pieter Holsteyn II was one of many artists in the Netherlands at the time who specialized in botanical illustration. In 17th-century Holland, some tulip bulbs were as expensive as a stately Amsterdam canal house.