The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 20, 2026

A vertically oriented watercolor depicts a solitary tulip centered on aged, off-white paper. At the top, fine, jagged strokes create deep-red stripes across white petals. A long, slender green stem rises from the base, where three wavy green leaves curl outward in elegant arcs. Subtle brown spots dot the background. In the lower right corner, the word "Anvaers" is written in delicate, dark cursive script.

Study of a Tulip (Anvaers)

c. 1645

Pieter Holsteyn II

(Dutch, c.1612–1673)
Netherlands
Point of brush and transparent and opaque watercolors with traces of graphite and gum glazing on antique laid paper
Sheet: 31.1 x 20.6 cm (12 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.)
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.131
Location: Not on view

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 name, inscribed on the sheet, is the French word for the city of Antwerp.
  • with Johan Bosch van Rosenthal, Amsterdam
    1992
    Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1992, lot 178
    Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH
    March 2, 2020
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Scallen, Catherine B. "Holsteyn and Prins." In The Keithley Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, edited by Heather Lemonedes Brown, 32-37, 44-45. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 32-37; Mentioned: p. 264-265
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Study of a Tulip (Anvaers)|url=false|author=Pieter Holsteyn II|year=c. 1645|access-date=20 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.131