Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres

A.C. ZEVEN
Paintings from the 16 th to 18 th centuries by Flemish and North-
Netherlands artists as a source for investigating the evolution of vegetables:
a summary
A.C. ZEVEN 1
Abstract
Our domesticated, i.e., cultivated crops originated from wild plants. During their domestication
some plants changed little and others to a great extent. The whole plant or a part of it
may change in various characters such as shape and colour.
For most crops we know how their wild ancestors look like, and we also know the appearance
of the present-day crops. But how did these crops look like in the 16 th -18 th centuries?
Paintings, made during these centuries, may give an answer to this question. Our investigations
were restricted to paintings made in Flanders and North-Netherlands (present-day
Netherlands).
Some results
• Many forms of our crops of the 16 th -18 th centuries can easily be identified as their
appearance is similar or even identical to the present-day forms.
• The colours of carrots on the investigated paintings are orange, yellow, white, red and
purple. The orange type has become, nowadays, the main type for human consumption,
whereas this type together with the other colour types are being used for fodder.
• The paintings show the presence of red and purple cabbages. In the beginning of the
20 th century the red types were still offered on the vegetable markets at Amsterdam and
probably also elsewhere. They were disliked and therefore cheaper.
• Some paintings show red (= purple) cabbage covered by a silvery gloss of unknown
cause.
1 University Wageningen
Department of Plant Breeding
Dassenboslaan 6
NL-6705 BT Wageningen, The Netherlands
167