At once collector, botanist, reader, artist, and patron, Agnes Block is best described as a cultural producer. A member of an influential network in her lifetime, today she remains a largely obscure figure. The socioeconomic and political barriers faced by early modern women, together with a male-dominated tradition in art history, have meant that too few stories of women’s roles in the creation, production, and consumption of art have reached us. This book seeks to write Block and her contributions into the art and cultural history of the seventeenth-century Netherlands, highlighting the need for and advantages of a multifaceted approach to research on early modern women. Examining Block’s achievements, relationships, and objects reveals a woman who was independent, knowledgeable, self-aware, and not above self-promotion. Though her gender brought few opportunities and many barriers, Agnes Block succeeded in fashioning herself as Flora Batava, a liefhebber at the intersection of art and science.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Cross-Pollination
- A Feminist Work of Art History
- Who Was Agnes Block?
- Organization of This Book
- Bibliography
- 1. Vijverhof and the Pursuit of Nature
- A Literary Garden: Vyver-Hof van Agneta Blok
- “Reconstructing” Vijverhof
- Vijverhof and Self-Fashioning
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- 2. Vijverhof in Context
- Vijverhof: Representative of a Particularly Dutch Passion for Botany
- How Rare? Block’s Plant Collection
- Gender, Block, and Vijverhof in Context
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- 3. Vijverhof as a Space of Knowledge Creation, Exchange, and Relationships
- Early Modern Botany: A Collaborative Enterprise
- Block’s Participation in the Creation, Dissemination, and Production of Botanical Knowledge
- Gender and the Public Sphere of Botany: An Uneasy Relationship
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- 4. Becoming Flora Batava
- Self-Fashioning Through Portraits
- Self-Fashioning Through a Portrait Medal: A Material Legacy
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- 5. Flora Batava in Context
- Not Too Sweet and Not Too Sour: Gender Expectations in the Dutch Seventeenth-Century
- Women, Power and Civic and Economic Participation
- Was Block Unique? Self-Fashioning Amongst her Female Contemporaries
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- 6. The Bloemenboek and Block’s Watercolours: Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science
- A Vast Collection
- Collecting With a Purpose
- Collecting Botanical Watercolours: A Common Activity Amongst Liefhebbers?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- 7. The Bloemenboek as a Meeting Place and Visual Manifestation of Agnes Block’s Artistic Network
- The Bloemenboek as a Meeting Place
- A Material Manifestation of Networks
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Conclusion
- Appendix A
- Bibliography
- Index
- List of Figures and Photographic Credits
- Figure 1 Jan Weenix, Portrait of Agnes Block and her Family in Front of Vijverhof, ca. 1687–1693, oil on canvas, 84 × 111 cm. Amsterdam Museum, SA 20359.
- Figure 1a Pineapple detail, Portrait of Agnes Block and her Family in Front of Vijverhof.
- Figure 1b Collection detail, Portrait of Agnes Block and her Family in Front of Vijverhof.
- Figure 2 Jan Goeree, “Allegory of Vijverhof, Cover Design,” in Gualtherus Blok, Vyver-Hof van Agneta Blok (Amsterdam: By the Author, 1702). Leiden University Library, Special Collections, M3 1295 A 58.
- Figure 3 Nicholaas Visscher, New Map of Mynden (Amsterdam: Weduwe Nicolaas Visscher, 1702). Streekarchief Gooi en Vechtstreek te Hilversum, SAGV077.
- Figure 4 Daniel Stoopendaal, “View of the Estate Vyver-Hof on the Vecht,” in Andries de Leth and Daniel Stoopendaal, De Zegepraalende Vecht (Amsterdam: Weduwe Nicolaas Visscher, 1719), pl. 41. Het Utrechts Archief, 200687.
- Figure 5 Remmet Van Luttervelt, “Hypothetical representation of Vijverhof,” in C. Catharina van de Graft, Agnes Block: Nicht en Vriendin (Utrecht: Bruna, 1943). Private collection.
- Figure 6 Philip Tidemann, Title Page Design for Agnes Block’s Florilegia, ca. 1690–ca. 1700, brush in colour and pen in brown ink, 355 × 222 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1974-88.
- Figure 7 Jan Boskam, Portrait Medal of Agneta Blok as Flora Batava, 1700, bronze, 58 mm. Amsterdam Museum, PB 259.
- Figure 8 Willem Swidde, “Bird’s Eye View of Gunterstein,” in Joseph Mulder and Willem Swidde, Veues de Gunterstein (Amsterdam: Nicolas Visscher, ca. 1680–1696), etching and engraving, 131 × 162 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1899-A-21586.
- Figure 9 Joseph Mulder, “L’Orangerie et sa serre,” in Mulder and Swidde, Veues de Gunterstein, etching and engraving, 131 × 162 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1899-A-21594.
- Figure 10 Elias van Nijmegen, View of a Garden with Pond, Fountain, and Peacock, ca. 1677–1755, pen and brown ink, watercolour, lead, 200 × 327 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1968-258.
- Figure 11 Gerard de Lairesse, Italianate Landscape with Three Women in the Foreground, ca. 1687, oil on canvas, 290 × 212 cm. Rijksmuseum, SK-A-4216.
- Figure 12 Michiel van Musscher, Portrait of David de Neufville and his Family, 1696, oil on canvas, 149 × 167.5 cm. Amsterdam Museum, donation Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, SA 41518.
- Figure 13 Nicolaas Verkolje, Portrait of David van Mollem and his Family, 1740, oil on panel, 63.5 × 79 cm. Rijksmuseum, SK-C-1658.
- Figure 14 Monogrammist A.B., Amaranthus tricolor (St. Joseph’s coat), ca. 1651–1700, gouache, graphite underdrawing, gum Arabic, 410 × 255 mm. Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, H 27 Bd. 27, Bl. 7.
- Figure 15 François Duquesnoy, Cupid Carving his Bow, ca. 1626, marble, 75 cm. Bode-Museum, Berlin (SMB), inv. no. 540. Photograph by Jörg P. Anders.
- Figure 16 Monogrammist A.B., Harlequin Beetle and Five Other Beetles, ca. 1651–1700, gouache on paper, 259 × 366 mm. Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Z 5361.
- Figure 17 Adriaen van der Werff, Agnes Block, ca. 1693, oil, 48 × 39 cm. Private collection. Image RKD.
- Figure 18 Adriaen van der Werff, Sybrand de Flines, 1693, oil, 48 × 39 cm. Private collection. Image RKD.
- Figure 19 Monogrammist A.B., Poppy erraticum, flore egneo marginibus candidis, ca. 1651–1700, gouache on paper, 410 × 261 mm. Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, H 27 Bd. 27, Bl. 36.
- Figure 20 Alida Withoos, Flowering ivy, 1665–1719, paper, black chalk, watercolour, 347 × 258 mm, Amsterdam Museum, loan Backer Stichting, TB 5943.
- Figure 21 Johannes Thopas, Portrait of a Woman, undated, lead point. Naturalis / NEV Library.
- Figure 22 Johann Theodor de Bry after Gillis van Breen after Karel van Mander, The Battle for the Trousers, 1596, engraving, 109 × 86 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-P-BI-5214.
- Figure 23 Johannes Thopas, Portrait of an Elderly Woman, Seated with Astronomical Instruments, ca. 1675–1680, lead point with grey wash on vellum, 200 × 163 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1882-A-177.
- Figure 24 Jan Boskam, Commemorative Medal of Ida Blok, 1693, gold, 50.2 mm. Teylers Museum, TMNK 01257.
- Figure 25 Anonymous, “Plusieurs especes de fleurs dessinées d’apres le naturel,” in Bloemenboek, ca. 1680–1960, paper, brush in colour and pen in brown ink, 330 × 210 mm. Rijksmuseum, RP-T-1948-119.
- Figure 26 Monogrammist A.B., Passiflora pentaphyllos, ca. 1650–1700, gouache, graphite underdrawing, gum Arabic, 410 × 260 mm. Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, H 27 Bd. 27, Bl. 38.
- Figure 27 Albert van Spiers, Title Page with Floral Motif and Portrait Medal of Agnes Block (1629–1704), ca. 1681–1704, paper, black chalk, gouache, gold, gum Arabic or egg yolk, 438 × 322 mm. Arader Galleries, New York.
- Figure 28 Anonymous, “Fumaria bulbosa radice cava major and cymbalaria italica,” in Bloemenboek, fol. 63, paper, brush in colour, pen in brown ink, and graphite underdrawing, 330 × 210 mm.
- Figure 29 Anonymous, “Campanula,” in Bloemenboek, fol. 87, paper, brush in colour, pen in brown ink, and graphite underdrawing, 330 × 210 mm.
- Figure 30 Anonymous, “Nigella flore pleno,” in Bloemenboek, fol. 17, paper, brush in colour and pen in brown ink, 330 × 210 mm.
- Figure 31 Hendrik d’Acquet, “Nine beetles,” in Insecta et animalia coloribus ad vivum picta, Anno 1656 et sequentibus, Part I, ca. 1632–1706, fol. 24. Leiden University Library, Special Collections RF-281.
- Figure 32 Johannes Bronkhorst, Two Colibri with Three Insects, 1668–1704, gouache, watercolour, gum Arabic, 260 × 316 mm. Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Z 5352.
- Figure 33 Herman Henstenburgh, Ficoides feu ficus aizoides africana major, 1685, watercolour on paper. Private collection.
- Figure 33a Herman Henstenburgh, Ficoides feu ficus aizoides africana major (verso).
- Figure 34 Willem de Heer and Maria Sibylla Merian, Datura with Butterflies, ca. 1679–1695, watercolour and opaque watercolour, with traces of gum Arabic, over graphite on paper, 333 × 210 mm. The Morgan Library and Museum, 2010.160.
- Figure 35 Anonymous and S.P. Octavius. M.D., “Two Dens caninus,” in Bloemenboek, fol. 27, paper, adhesive, brush in colour and pen in brown ink, 330 × 210 mm.
- Figure 36 Herman Henstenburgh, Flower Still Life with Monkey on Stone Ledge, ca. 1682–1726, parchment, brush in colour, gouache, 406 × 309 mm. Arader Galleries, New York.
- Figure 37 Jan Weenix, Sitting Monkey, before 1685, oil on canvas, 29.9 × 25.9 cm. Rijksmuseum, SK-A-5053.
- Figure 38 Anonymous, “Iris hispanica bulbosa,” in Bloemenboek, fol. 105, paper, adhesive, brush in colour, pen in brown ink, and graphite underdrawing, 330 × 210 mm.
- Figure 39 Crispijn van de Passe, “Iris hispanica bulbosa,” in Hortus floridus (Arnhem: Janssonius, 1614–1616), pl. 6. Ghent University Library, BIB.HN.000316.
- Figure 40 Anonymous, “Primula veris flore purpur,” in Bloemenboek, fol. 38, paper, brush in colour, pen in brown ink, and graphite underdrawing, 330 × 210 mm.
- Figure 41 Anonymous, “Primula veris hortensis umbellate, caule et flore foliosa, maior,” in Paul Hermann, Horti academici (Leiden: Boutesteyn,1687), 507. Leiden University Library, Special Collections 640 B 20.
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