Set in the Golden Age of the Dutch nation, a period lasting for most of the seventeenth century, The Golden Tulip provides insights into the society and customs of a freedom-loving people. The protagonist, Francesca Visser, and her sisters, daughters of a fictional Amsterdam artist, have been reared in an atmosphere of art and freedom. Having shown a talent for painting, two of the sisters are receiving artistic instruction from their father. (It was not considered unusual for a woman in the Netherlands to become a master artist if she completed her apprenticeship and was approved for membership in a guild.)

The Netherlands in the seventeenth century was more liberal than the rest of Europe; the Dutch had won the right to govern themselves by defeating the Spanish in the Eighty Years War. In 1669, the Dutch were again threatened by invasion, this time by Louis XIV...