Artwork Page for Study of a Tulip (Wit en root boode)

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Study of a Tulip (Wit en root boode)

c. 1645
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Pieter Holsteyn II

(Dutch, c.1612–1673)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
Point of brush and transparent and opaque watercolors with traces of graphite and gum glazing on antique laid paper
Measurements
Sheet: 31.2 x 20.6 cm (12 5/16 x 8 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.130
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

In 17th-century Holland, some tulip bulbs were as expensive as a stately Amsterdam canal house.

Description

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.This tulip's Dutch name, inscribed on the sheet, means "white and red messenger."
A vertically oriented watercolor and graphite drawing on cream paper depicts a single tulip. A white, cup-shaped bloom with flame-like streaks of deep red sits atop a slender green stem. Wavy, pointed leaves cluster at the base, with one leaf curling upward. Fine brown spots dot the paper's surface, and cursive script in the lower right corner reads, "Wit en root boode."

Study of a Tulip (Wit en root boode)

c. 1645

Pieter Holsteyn II

(Dutch, c.1612–1673)
Netherlands

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