Drie tulpen met vlieg 1637

Jacob Marrel created this watercolor on vellum of three tulips with a fly. Made during the Dutch Golden Age, this image encapsulates the cultural and economic phenomenon known as "Tulip Mania," when speculation in tulip bulbs drove prices to extraordinary levels before collapsing. Marrel's precise rendering captures the coveted variegated patterns, caused by a virus, that made certain tulips so valuable. The inscriptions reveal that these are not just flowers, but named varieties, commodities in a feverish market. In the 17th century, the Netherlands was becoming an economic superpower, but this also led to speculative bubbles, like Tulip Mania, where the value of something becomes detached from its intrinsic worth. The image can be read as a commentary on the intersection of art, commerce, and the perils of speculative markets. To understand this work more fully, one could consult historical price lists, botanical treatises, and economic histories of the period. The interpretation of art is always dependent on an understanding of its social and institutional context.