How the tulip became the world’s most coveted flower

Tulips to inspire you

Petal perfection
In the early 17th century, artists from the Low Countries were among the first to produce paintings that exclusively depicted flowers. These sumptuous images provide a visual record of the most desirable tulips of the period.
A large part of the fascination with tulips was down to the way they sometimes magically transformed from a single-coloured flower one season, to being exquisitely flamed with contrasting colours the next.
Among this group of tulips, the Semper Augustus was the most coveted of all. Scarce, beautiful and therefore exclusive and expensive, the fine deep red flames against white petals had an intensity of colour and symmetry of form that set it apart from other tulips.
This painting by the Flemish artist Nicolas van Veerendael, at Nostell, West Yorkshire, dates from 1677 and features a prominently placed tulip bearing the hallmarks of a Semper Augustus flower.




