The Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Tulip Folly Oil on canvas. The Walters Art Museum. The Tulip Folly (1882) represents tulipomania in the Netherlands. Soldiers were ordered to trample the flowerbeds in an effort to stabilize the market. Gérôme illustrates an incident during the tulipomania, or the craze for tulips, that swept the Netherlands and much of Europe during the 17th century. The tulip, originally imported from Turkey in the 16th century, became an increasingly valuable commodity. By 1636/7, tulipomania peaked, and, when the market crashed, speculators were left with as little as 5 percent of their original investments. In this scene, a nobleman guards an exceptional bloom as soldiers trample flowerbeds in a vain attempt to stabilize the tulip market by limiting the supply. Photos 1. The Tulip Folly / 2. Anonymous 17th-century watercolor of the Semper Augustus, famous for being the most expensive tulip sold during tulip mania.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 21:08:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015