Tulips
History of Tulips
It is not completely clear where the name 'tulip' comes from. The name is probably derived from the Persian word for turban: 'taliban'. In Latin this word was bastardized to Tulipa, which is even now the official name of this flower. Anyone who looks closely will see that the tulip indeed somewhat resembles a turban.
Contrary to what most foreigners think, the tulip did not originate in Holland, but in the mountain areas of the Caucasus and Persia. In the past these areas used to belong to the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Because of that people in Holland often think that the tulip originated in Turkey. Tulips were already being cultivated in the year 1000, but the first specimens did not arrive in Europe until the end of the 16th century.
Tulip Mania
The Austrian botanist Carolus Clusius brought the first tulips to Holland in 1593. He arrived in Leiden that year to become head of the botanical garden, the Hortus Botanicus. The bulbs were so expensive at that time, that only rich people could afford to buy them. But the tulip was so much in demand that people speculated with them on a large scale. In fact, thousands of guilders were paid for bulbs of unusual tulips. In the 17th century that was enough money to buy a small castle. Hence the name 'tulip mania'. In 1637 the market collapsed when it turned out that many more tulip bulbs were sold than were being grown.
Tulips in Holland
Since the17th century, it has been impossible to imagine the low lands without tulips and other bulb flowers. Nowadays, Holland is the largest producer of tulips and other bulb flowers. Flower bulbs are cultivated in an area of about 20,000 hectares. Of these, half are tulips. On the other half of the area lilies, gladiolas, narcissus, hyacinths and other bulb flowers are cultivated. Holland exports more than 2 billion tulip bulbs throughout the world annually. Most of them go to the United States followed closely by Japan and Germany. Of the 1 billion bulbs that remain in Holland, the majority are used for growing cut tulips.
Tulips were introduced in the Netherlands in 1593. Till 1630 the growing of tulips was in the hands of specialists, who could sell their product for a very high price.
After 1630 the trading in tulips increased, which was the beginning of the 'tulipomania' of 1636 and 1637. The trading in tulips was free of regulation. More and more people started speculating. Bulbs of one or two guilders could be worth a hundred a few months later. Fortunes were being made and people from all walks of life became swept up in the gamble. Speculation rose in the year 1637 to an extent that bulbs were sold faster than they could grow. But the speculators were gambling on something as elusive as the wind and in time it did come to be called the windtrade.
Prices spiraled to a ridiculous level for bulbs of which neither buyer nor seller had seen the flower. This tulipomania got out of hand so badly that bulb growers themselves asked the government to ban the trade. The market collapsed later in 1637 and left many people bankrupt.
The collapsing of the flourishing market for bulbs added to the poignancy of the tulip as a vanitas symbol. Flowers, whose conventional meaning was 'all that blooms shall fade', acquired a new significance: 'a fortune today turns to ashes tomorrow'. Van Delen's painting may well have been intended to express these ideas.
Source: Keukenhof, Spring Garden of Europe.