I will be in Mississippi until Sunday. I will be celebrating two special events: Mother's Day and the 20th birthday of our daughter, Elise! While I am gone, I will leave you you some beautiful tulips and wish you all a very special Mother's Day.
This is a novel I'm looking forward to reading. It recalls "Tulip Mania", a part of Dutch history that I hope to find more about.
Jan Brueghel This is the museum description of description of the Jan Brueghel painting that is an allegory of sorts about "Tulip Mania".
"One monkey points to flowering tulips while another brandishes a tulip and a moneybag. This is how artist Jan Brueghel indicates that this painting is about the tulip trade. A sale is concluded by hand-clapping. Bulbs are weighed, money is counted, a lavish business dinner is savoured. The monkey on the left has a list of names of expensive tulips. The sword at his side is a status symbol. Farther back, a monkey sits like a nobleman astride a horse. Another in the mid-foreground is drawing up a bill of sale. The owl on his shoulder symbolises folly. Brueghel is ridiculing tulip mania by depicting the speculators as brainless monkeys. The painting also shows what happened when the tulip trade crashed: a monkey on the right urinates on the - now worthless - tulips. Behind him a speculator who has run up debts is being brought before the magistrate. A monkey sits weeping in the dock and in the centre at the back a disappointed buyer is wielding his fists. At the back to the right a speculator is even being carried to his grave."
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