Twee tulpen met sprinkhaan en lieveheersbeestje 1637

This delicate image of two tulips with a grasshopper and ladybug was created by Jacob Marrel with watercolor and gouache, likely sometime in the mid-17th century. The medium of watercolor is itself quite telling. It’s subtle, allowing for soft gradations of color – perfect for capturing the ephemeral beauty of a flower. The addition of gouache gives the painting opacity and depth, accentuating the crisp details of the insects and the complex patterns of the tulips’ petals. But there’s also a social context at play here. The tulip, especially during this period in the Netherlands, was not just a flower. It was a commodity, subject to wild speculation. Marrel, who specialized in flower painting, was participating in the visual culture of this mania. In this context, his meticulous rendering of the tulips, their colors and forms, speaks not just to their natural beauty, but to their economic value, a potent reminder of the intersection of nature, art, and capitalism.