Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Tulip Folly [1882]](//www.rssing.com/inc2/img/tinyinf.webp)
Clik here to view.
![Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Tulip Folly [1882]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3901/14277586370_d5c0df7b67_o.jpg)
Gérôme illustrates an incident during the tulipomania, or the craze for tulips, that swept the Netherlands and much of Europe during the 17th century. The tulip, originally imported from Turkey in the 16th century, became an increasingly valuable commodity. By 1636/7, tulipomania peaked, and, when the market crashed, speculators were left with as little as 5% of their original investments. In this scene, a nobleman guards an exceptional bloom as soldiers trample flowerbeds in a vain attempt to stabilise the tulip market by limiting the supply.
[Walters Art Museum, Baltimore - Oil on canvas, 65.4 x 100 cm]
