Broken Tulips: How a Virus Gave the World’s Most Prized Flower Its Beauty || by Maria Popova :: Brain Pickings

In 1634, Rembrandt painted his wife, Saskia, as Flora — the Roman goddess of flowers and spring. One large bloom droops over her left ear from the wreath crowning her head, dwarfing the other blossoms in scale and splendor — a single tulip, its silken petals aflame with stripes of red and white.These tulips no longer exist.Read more