Twee tulpen met rups 1637

Jacob Marrel made this drawing of two tulips with a caterpillar, most likely in the Netherlands during the 17th century. The image speaks to the extraordinary speculative bubble in tulip bulbs that gripped the Dutch Republic in the 1630s. The bulbs of seemingly unremarkable flowers commanded exorbitant prices on the exchanges, fortunes were made and lost, and the Dutch economy was threatened before the bubble finally burst. Marrel’s decision to paint these particular tulips is significant. The striped petals were a sign of the plant being infected with a virus, but this was not known at the time; the striking visual effect only increased the bulb's value. As a record of a fleeting moment in economic history, the drawing provides a fascinating reminder that artistic value does not exist in a vacuum. It emerges from a network of social relations and cultural attitudes. Historians consult period documents like pamphlets and financial records, as well as visual art, in understanding this. What value do we place on things, and why? That is the central question.