Herbert's "The Bitter Smell of Tulips"

  Henry Pot, a painter of collective portraits, religious and genre pictures, represented the mania afflicting his country under a veil of transparent allegory in his work "The Cart of Madmen." On this cart we recognize Flora holding in her hand three of the most precious varieties of tulip: "Semper Augustus," "General Bol," and "Admiral Hoorn." Behind the patron of nature there are five symbolic figures: Good-for-Nothing, Wealth-Craver, the Drunkard, and two ladies, Vain Hope and Poverty. A huge crowd of people runs after the cart calling,"We too want to sell our tulips."



[From Wikimedia Commons]

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