Emanuel Sweerts (1552–1612) delighted in the burgeoning passion for flowers that had been introduced to the Netherlands only a few years prior—because he was the one who could deliver the precious bulbs.
He utilized the possibilities of the relatively new technique of copperplate engraving, with its fine lines and high level of detail, for a remarkably modern marketing tool: he produced catalogs to advertise his wares. Copperplate engravings for modern marketing.
These works contain more than 100 hand-colored plates featuring various bulb and flower species. They served as a luxurious sales catalog for his botanical business. Sweerts was a savvy networker: every year, he operated a market stall at the Frankfurt Fair—the center of world trade at the time—to sell his bulbs to an international audience. Outside of fair seasons, he distributed his treasures in Amsterdam. Such historical flower books, which do not depict medicinal plants and serve no scientific purpose, are called florilegia.
The Spark of Tulipomania
With his catalogs, Sweerts catered to a rapidly growing interest in exotic plants that were increasingly reaching European ports. As mentioned, tulips were coveted to a degree that seems almost unimaginable today. Sweerts did not just profit from this trend; he actively fueled it with the attractive illustrations in his florilegium.
However, he could not have foreseen what would develop only twenty years after his death—between 1634–1637: “Tulipomania.” This first great speculative bubble in history shook the economic system of the entire Republic of the United Netherlands. At its peak, a single tulip bulb cost as much as an entire canal house in Amsterdam. This is a story I tell here.
Text: Gerhard Groebe | Images: Public domain
In our gallery, we showcase the magnificent engravings from Sweerts’ florilegium – the precursors to an unprecedented economic frenzy.
