Tulip and Iris 1804

Curator: Here we have "Tulip and Iris", a watercolour and drawing on paper, crafted in 1804 by Willem van Leen. Editor: Immediately I notice how subdued and delicate the colours are; it evokes a sense of calm melancholy. There's almost a ghostliness to the butterfly. Curator: Interesting! That’s not quite how I read it initially. I see the tulip, that sort of flamboyant, blousy thing, as a symbol of opulence. It was a coveted bloom then, you know. The irises underneath feel a bit more stoic, lending this botanical study a complex symbolism. Editor: Absolutely. The tulip certainly carries that baggage of "tulip mania," a kind of precarious beauty, a fleeting status. Maybe it’s the arrangement – that oversized tulip sort of looming over the irises, even shadowing them. What’s the Iris’s story here, in relation to the tulip? Curator: The Iris is more classic, in symbolic terms. Royalty, faith, wisdom…Van Leen juxtaposes these established symbols with the nouveau riche tulip. A very knowing, ironic contrast. Editor: Right, there’s tension. Even the butterfly. Is it flitting away, disillusioned by it all? There’s something very fleeting in this depiction. It's beautiful, naturally, but tinged with a bit of a wistful air. It looks as though all the subjects here will wither quite quickly. Curator: You’re hitting on the ephemeral nature, beautifully captured here. Van Leen certainly chose watercolour to hint at that fragile beauty, which feels quite Romantic. Editor: Precisely. The butterfly in Romanticism has a rich association to the soul! But let me be bold here: maybe these drooping plants suggest also an elegy to mortality and an end to wealth, with that butterfly just before take off. I see cycles of time here, passing of season. The bloom fades and then new sprouts grow into future bloomings. Curator: Perhaps so. A contemplation of wealth and loss, framed in this quiet composition and almost clinical rendering... Food for thought! Thanks for helping reveal a little more nuance and history to these flowers, both symbolic and biographical.