# Study of a Tulip (Wit en root boode)

**Pieter Holsteyn II** (Dutch, c.1612–1673)  
c. 1645  
Point of brush and transparent and opaque watercolors with traces of graphite and gum glazing on antique laid paper  
Sheet: 31.2 x 20.6 cm (12 5/16 x 8 1/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2020.130. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.130).

## About this work

This image of a tulip was made as part of a tulip book used as a grower’s marketing tool during the so-called tulip mania, a speculative bubble in 17th-century Holland, when ten tulip bulbs could cost more than a stately Amsterdam canal house. The striations on the tulip, which were caused by a virus in the bulb, made it especially valuable. Pieter Holsteyn II was one of many artists in the Netherlands at the time who specialized in botanical illustration.This tulip's Dutch name, inscribed on the sheet, means "white and red messenger."

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Pieter Holsteyn II painted this in about 1645, aged about 28. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Opaque watercolour.** Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- **Graphite.** Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.

### [Pieter Holsteyn II](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/pieter-holsteyn-ii)

Dutch, c.1612–1673

## Facts

- Type: Drawing
- Culture: Netherlands
- The artist was about 28
- Real size: about 12 × 8 in (31 × 21 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 17th century
- Movement: [Dutch Golden Age](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/dutch-golden-age)
- Colour: white
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/452.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/452/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/study-of-a-tulip-wit-en-root-boode-cma-80646).