JACOB MARREL (Frankenthal 1613/1614 – Frankfurt 1681)
Flowers in a Glass Vase with a Kingfisher, Snail, Cherries, Lizard, Stag Beetle, Shells, Butterflies, Dragonfly, Bee, and other Insects on a Stone Ledge
oil on panel
37 3/8 x 27 inches (94.9 x 68 cm.)
A DUTCH MELTDOWN!
Flowers have always been a part of human culture. The worship, presentation and giving- thus the pursuit of - has been part of life for thousands of years. The Egyptians worshiped the Lotus flower and thought it had special power to help carry the deceased through to the afterlife. The Greeks used flowers to celebrate battle wins and beauty – their two most important quests, and the Romans used stories of the Gods and the beauty of flowers to tell tales of vanity and envy. Carry on through time and flowers took on all kinds of meanings including Christ, love and loss. There were always a few flowers that stood out above others as being more important, drawing more emotion. The tulip is one of them.
As with the narcissus and the sunflower, to name a few, the tulip’s myth or specifically the red tulip’s myth is one of legend. The story is one known all too well, two star-crossed lovers who were prevented from being together, with one killing himself in despair and the other distraught, taking her own life in grief. Their blood pooled together and out grew red tulips, a sign of pure love. This ancient story evolved over time, with the Turks feeling the tulip was a divine entity. In the eyes of the Ottomans, its hearty robust nature and its ever-changing genetic make-up meant that nature cherished this flower above all others. Decorating their Ottoman palaces with what was deemed ‘divine’ tulips was seen as a way to insure prosperity. Interestingly, the meaning and legend of the tulip mirrors its genetic make-up of reinvention.
Jacob Marrel was born in Frankenthal, but after studying in the workshop of Georg Flegel in Frankfurt, he moved to Utrecht in 1632. There he was under the influence of fellow painters Roelandt Savery and Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger and developed his signature style of elaborate florals still-lifes. This is also where his penchant for tulips clearly started. In 1634 the tulip market began exploding. In response to this market from 1634 - 1648, Marrel produced a number of “tulip books” which were comprised of watercolors of tulips painted on vellum, used by dealers to show what the tulip would resemble upon flowering. Marrel himself was also known to dabble in the tulip trade and most likely was invested in the market.
The story of ‘Tulip Mania’ has become well known, although partially de-bunked as to the extent of the damage this really did to the Dutch economy, it is still used as an example of a speculative market gone wrong. Some researchers believe that part of the reason the market exploded was because people were bored due to the limitations the bubonic plague brought to society. It is also suggested that the market crashed in large part to the fact that no one showed up in Haarlem for the first sale of the season, possibly because Haarlem itself was experiencing a nasty outbreak of the plague. The existence of the plague may have helped to create a culture of unusual risk-taking that allowed the speculation to skyrocket in the first place. (Think GameStop!)
Scholars believe that, although it may not have had as big an economic impact as once thought, it was still a trauma for Dutch society. Interestingly, much of the documentation about ‘Tulip Mania’ generated from anti-speculative pamphlets was not written by victims of the bubble, but were primarily motivated by religion. In the 17th century, it was unthinkable that something as common as a flower could be worth more than what someone earns in a year. An entire network of values was thrown into disarray and the concept of ‘value’ into turmoil. The upheaval was viewed as a perversion of the moral order — proof that "concentration on the earthly, rather than the heavenly flower could have dire consequences."
Working within the heart of this speculator’s market, Marrel would have been only too aware of its potential pitfalls. Or perhaps the worst had already happened given that the crash occurred in 1637 and this painting was executed between 1635 – 1640. In either case this panel teems with warnings and symbols of the vanitas that point to the transience of life and hollowness of worldly pursuits. Marrel was clearly sending a signal – or possibly – a message of remorse for his own actions. The dominant flower here is not just a tulip but THE tulip – the Semper Augustus, famous for being the most expensive of all the tulips. To paint a bouquet of the most expensive tulips, with exquisite detail given to the symbolic items on the ledge seems a strong indication that Marrel was well aware of his own part in this speculative game. Referencing among other things, a snail clinging to earthy things, a lizard, often a symbol of evil, and even a crack in the ledge, shows the severity in which Marrel took the financial and moral environment around him. After the crash and the completion of this painting, Marrel returned to Frankfurt and married, teaching his techniques to his step-daughter and her new husband. Was he done after this experience- leaving Wall Street after a crash? Apparently not, as he eventually returned to The Netherlands and was an active art dealer, traveling back and forth between Utrecht and Frankfurt until his death there in 1681.
Although the tulip trade survived and remains viable today, it would never again reach the inflamed heights of 1637. Most people are likely unaware of the reputation this flower once had as a symbol of greed and immorality. It is now frequently associated with The Netherlands and considered a simple flower that can be offered in the most generic of circumstances – not a symbol of divinity, star-crossed lovers or materialism gone wrong. Once again, this robust flower has reinvented itself into something simple, yet strong. So, when purchasing your next bunch for a friend or loved one, wonder what is next for this spirited little flower?
3 March, 2021