A painting by Jan Bruegel II sold at auction for 281 thousand dollars

AMSTERDAM. The painting “An allegory of Tulipomania” by Jan Brueghel the Younger was sold yesterday at Christie’s in Amsterdam for $ 281 thousand. Preliminary estimates of experts fluctuated around 91 - 131 thousand dollars.

The canvas, painted in oil on canvas in the 1640s, is part of a whole group of satirical paintings by a Dutch artist dedicated to the craze for tulips in the Netherlands in the first half of the seventeenth century. The painting depicts a group of monkeys dressed in the style of the Dutch nobility, who are involved in various market speculations in the tulip market. Some monkeys weigh the flower bulbs, others - change the money, others - confirm the deal with a handshake.

Bruegel openly ridiculed the current speculative situation around the flowers. By the way, the end of this unprecedented exchange fraud in history was laid only in 1637, when by special royal decree all transactions on tulip bulbs were deemed harmful and prohibited.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru