The Mystery of the Missing Maddona… bible-garden: Madonna Under the Fir Tree (1510, but may have actually have been painted in Vienna between 1500-04), by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary. Isaiah 60:13 (NIV) The painting, which had been hanging in the Cathedral of St. John in Wroclaw, Poland since the 16th Century, was in the process of being restored in 1946 (look closely to see where it was broken in half). A German priest and amateur art collector, Siegfried Zimmer, was in charge of the restoration project. Instead, he made a forgery of the painting and slipped away to Berlin with the original, leaving the counterfeit behind. It was not until 1961 that the hoax was discovered. From that point on, the painting was held privately until 2012 when negotiations began for its recovery and return. In the summer of 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland finally negotiated the return of the original to the Wroclaw Cathedral.  

The Mystery of the Missing Maddona…

bible-garden:

Madonna Under the Fir Tree (1510, but may have actually have been painted in Vienna between 1500-04), by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary. Isaiah 60:13 (NIV)

The painting, which had been hanging in the Cathedral of St. John in Wroclaw, Poland since the 16th Century, was in the process of being restored in 1946 (look closely to see where it was broken in half). A German priest and amateur art collector, Siegfried Zimmer, was in charge of the restoration project. Instead, he made a forgery of the painting and slipped away to Berlin with the original, leaving the counterfeit behind. It was not until 1961 that the hoax was discovered. From that point on, the painting was held privately until 2012 when negotiations began for its recovery and return. In the summer of 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland finally negotiated the return of the original to the Wroclaw Cathedral.  

Tulip Trading…..   Flora, the Goddess of Flowers, is depicted in the painting Flora’s Wagon of Fools by Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (1640). Tulip traders referred to the tulip-trading phenomena as “windhandel” (wind trade), so named for the mania associated with the coveted tulip bulb because the bulbs never actually changed “hands” ~ they merely changed “ownership.”   Flora’s tulips are of the striped variety, the most coveted tulips of the day. The term “Tulip-break” was coined at this time when solid-colored tulips “broke with stripes,” in that the petals had highly unusual flame and feather patterns. (In actuality, the bulbs were infested with a virus transmitted by aphids which caused the striping.)  The painting depicts Flora on the throne of a wind-powered wagon with a tulip-flag mounted on the carriage behind her. The monks riding in the wagon have tulips sprouting from their caps, like the horns of a devil, while the merchants and aristocrats clamor to make themselves a part of the tulip trade, which was nothing short of a medieval “get-rich-quick” scheme. The wind-powered wagon is driven into the sea, with the speculators following blindly to their demise. Defective tulip bulbs containing a virus, almost caused the collapse of Holland’s economy in the 1630’s.  “Toxic assets” have come and gone throughout history, because the lust for wealth at any cost prevails in human nature. 

Tulip Trading…..

 

Flora, the Goddess of Flowers, is depicted in the painting Flora’s Wagon of Fools by Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (1640). Tulip traders referred to the tulip-trading phenomena as “windhandel” (wind trade), so named for the mania associated with the coveted tulip bulb because the bulbs never actually changed “hands” ~ they merely changed “ownership.”  

Flora’s tulips are of the striped variety, the most coveted tulips of the day. The term “Tulip-break” was coined at this time when solid-colored tulips “broke with stripes,” in that the petals had highly unusual flame and feather patterns. (In actuality, the bulbs were infested with a virus transmitted by aphids which caused the striping.) 

The painting depicts Flora on the throne of a wind-powered wagon with a tulip-flag mounted on the carriage behind her. The monks riding in the wagon have tulips sprouting from their caps, like the horns of a devil, while the merchants and aristocrats clamor to make themselves a part of the tulip trade, which was nothing short of a medieval “get-rich-quick” scheme. The wind-powered wagon is driven into the sea, with the speculators following blindly to their demise. Defective tulip bulbs containing a virus, almost caused the collapse of Holland’s economy in the 1630’s. 

“Toxic assets” have come and gone throughout history, because the lust for wealth at any cost prevails in human nature.