# Study of a Tulip (Perregoen Machieu)

- By: Pieter Holsteyn II (Dutch, c.1612–1673)
- Date: c. 1645
- Medium: Point of brush and transparent and opaque watercolors with traces of graphite and gum glazing on antique laid paper
- Classification: Drawing
- Dimensions: Sheet: 36 x 27.3 cm (14 3/16 x 10 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Netherlands
- Credit line: Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.133)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2020.133/2020.133_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This image of a tulip was made as part of a tulip book used as a grower’s marketing tool during the so-called tulip mania, a speculative bubble in 17th-century Holland, when ten tulip bulbs could cost more than a stately Amsterdam canal house. The striations on the tulip, which were caused by a virus in the bulb, made it especially valuable. Pieter Holsteyn II was one of many artists in the Netherlands at the time who specialized in botanical illustration.