| I am not featuring a specific artist this week. Instead I'm showing you a tulip painting from around the 1700’s. This artwork was typical of the time because of the tulip mania that occurred in The Netherlands.
This was a period of economic speculation in the early 17th century, when the value of tulip bulbs increased dramatically. The tulip market peaked in February 1637 when the value of some bulbs reached sixty times their price of a few months earlier. The bubble burst soon after, and the tulip market collapsed.
Tulips were originally from Central Asia and they were first introduced in the early 1600s. They quickly became popular and there was a high demand for them which drove up the prices of tulip bulbs.
The tulip market collapsed when people began to realise that the prices of tulip bulbs were unsustainable. The most expensive tulip bulb ever sold was a Semper Augustus, which was purchased for 10,000 Guilders in 1637, around $700,000 in today's money.
Tulip mania is still studied today by economists as it's seen as a classic example of a market bubble and the dangers of speculation.
You can read more about tulips here, about tulip mania here and about today's painting here. |
