Hans Gillisz Bollongier, a specialist in bouquets…

Hans Gillisz Bollongier, a specialist in bouquets of blooms, paints during a period of great productivity for Haarlem painters, during the decades after Karel van Mander published his Schilderboeck here.

In Karel van Mander's book, there were a set of rules to follow to create good paintings and good drawings.

Bollongier has developed his own style and still observes all of these rules.

His paintings are very popular, but his work is not regarded as such by contemporary Haarlem painters.

As a genre, still life painting is considered inferior to historical allegories.

His work today is considered part of the proof that the Tulip Mania actually took place, although there is reason to believe that this is also just part of early Haarlem tourist propaganda.

Even as early as the seventeenth century, gentry from Amsterdam, Leiden, and places farther away enjoy visiting the tulip fields of Haarlem in the spring.