She bloomed in Leiden, the United Provinces, infected with a congenital condition caused by Potyvirus that nicknamed her as “Flame Flower” or as later known, “Rembrandt’s Tulip” when she became an inspiring muse for the painter. By her generation the Tulps have become very different from their wild ancestors, both in their physical phenotypes and the regards paid to them by human species. A promise of transcendence from everyday drudgery and low wages, her mirage drew artisans like moths to fire, one of them who eventually traded her for over 5,000 guilders. For comparison, the annual earning of a carpenter was 250 guilders at the time, and Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch (1642) was 1,600 guilders.
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