Rubens and the tulip fanatics

In Rubens’s time, many affluent Antwerpers were addicted to tulips. Once a simple flower, it became a highly sought-after luxury item. Everyone who was anyone owned tulips. In those days, some tulips were worth more than gold. People were prepared to pay outrageous prices to get their hands on a rare tulip bulb.  

While researching the Rubens House garden, Klara discovered that there was also an Antwerp tulip fever. She found out that there was even an Antwerp tulip bulb club: a shady group of individuals who traded in bulbs and met near Rubens’s house. It was a booming business: one bulb could set you back as much as 1,800 guilders! For comparison, Rubens’s gardener Willem earned ‘just’ 72 guilders a year. 

Because it was a port city, you could buy almost anything in Antwerp. Here tulip addicts could score anything from a Gouda, Viceroy, Anvers and Admirael de Man to an Oudenaarde, Generael Vereyck, Switsers, Petter, Otto de Man and Somerschoon on any given day. By then, white, yellow and red single-coloured tulips had been on the market for some time. But exclusive striped tulips? Those were all the rage by the end of the 1630s!  

It was also a risky trade. Bulbs were resold at extortionate prices without buyers ever seeing them bloom. Sometimes, they did not have the promised colour or pattern. Or they were dried out and did not flower at all. In 1637, tulip mania reached its peak. Prices skyrocketed, and the bubble burst.

That year, an Antwerp art collector called Antonio de Tassis sold all the bulblets of his mother bulb. The sale netted him 15,100 guilders. Willem would have had to work 209 years to earn the equivalent! 

So who were the members of this exclusive club? Seventeen wealthy Antwerp bulb dealers were identified based on a bundle of notarial documents. Interestingly, almost all of them have a link to Rubens. They included Rubens’s brewer, Hendrick Stockmans, as well as collectors Antonio de Tassis, Gaspar Charles, and Peter Hannekart, Rubens’s brother-in-law. These were men with contacts and cash to burn. Gamblers, who were always looking to score their next botanical high.   

They were very cunning too. To prevent quarrels or snitching, the tulip traders established a fraternity in honour of Saint Dorothea. In the song for Saint Dorothea, Antwerp tulips were praised as ‘the root of all happiness’! 

The shady deals took place at De Zwaan, the inn of brewer Hendrik Stockmans. It was located in the present-day Graanmarkt, just 200 metres from Rubens’s house. Here precious bulbs changed hands under the table. Was Rubens a member of this club? A notarial document relating to Isabella Brant shows that Rubens still owed 60 guilders for deliveries of beer by Stockmans. Was this bill a cover for Rubens’s tulip trade? Although his name is not listed in the documents, he must have been aware of the existence of this club.

Another trail leads to Rubens’s family. There was an imposing baroque mansion with a large garden that was almost as big as Rubens’s, just 400 metres from De Zwaan. This was the home of Rubens’s brother-in-law, Peter Hannekart, an influential member of the tulip bulb club. At the time of his death, he owned six major paintings by Rubens, including ‘The Battle of Ivry’, which is currently in the Rubens House collection. When Rubens died, Hannekart was appointed joint guardian of the five minor children of Rubens and his second wife, Helena Fourment.   

A pivotal figure in the club was the art collector and canon Antonio de Tassis. He had his portrait painted by Van Dyck and was also a fan of Rubens’s work. He also had a serious flower addiction. Notary records show that he owned tulips and other flowers between 1634 and 1637, buying and selling them for vast amounts of money.

Wherever there were costly bulbs, thieves were never far away. A bulb was easy to steal, as flower painter Philips de Marlier knew all too well. He gave his apprentices instructions to climb over the garden wall and steal the best tulips from his neighbour’s garden and replace them with less precious ones...  

Tulip addict Tassis spent many a sleepless night worrying about burglars in his garden.

Did he also buy and sell tulips on the black market? We don’t know for now. Klara is still researching this. But there can be no doubt that shady deals took place close to home. And we also know that he loved tulips. These elegant flowers grew in Rubens’ garden and were also featured in his paintings. In ‘The Four Philosophers’, he depicts four tulips in a glass vase. Two blooms are closed, the other two have wilted, symbolising the transient nature of life. In ‘The Walk in the Garden’, he painted a large bed of tulips blooms on the right. And what’s that on his wife Helena’s hat? A magnificent red and white broken tulip, of course!