Neat Nature: The Relation between Nature and Art in a Dutch Cabinet of Curiosities from the Early Eighteenth Century

The size of the drawers is 54 × 43 × 10cm. They have no inventory number. The largest number come from the East Indies, but there are some specimens from the West Indies and the Mediterranean. See the exhibition catalogue published under the auspices of the Amsterdam Historisch Museum: Bergvelt Ellinoor Kistemaker Renée (eds), De wereld binnen handbereik: Catalogus (Zwolle, 1992), 36.

The Dutch term for a cabinet of curiosities is rariteitenkabinet. The meaning of this word is threefold: It refers to (1) the room in which the collection was kept, (2) the cupboard in which the objects were kept, and (3) the collection as a whole.

von Uffenbach Zacharias Conrad , Merkwürdige Reisen durch Niedersachsen, Holland und Engelland III(Ulm, 1754), 534–693. Von Uffenbach's travel journal shows how difficult it is to give an exact definition of a collector or a collection. In his accounts it is often hard to make a clear distinction between the merchandise of a shop, the decoration of a room, or a ‘real’ collection in the sense of a room filled with intentional collected items. In the case of von Uffenbach, I have taken a broad approach, i.e. a group of objects in a room, which attracted his special attention.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 630–9.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 621–5.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 648–51. The identity of this woman is not exactly clear. Probably it is Petronella Oortmans (1654–1728), married to Abraham du Pré. Her mother, Petronella de la Court (1624–1707), owned an extensive collection and a famous doll's house. This collection passed probably to her daughter, who was named after her.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 609–10.

Exceptions to this were the collection of Stadholder Fredrick Henry and his wife Amalia van Solms, which had some royal grandeur, and the collection of John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen, who after his eight-year stay in Brazil kept in his mansion house in The Hague a considerable collection of exotica from these regions.

On Dutch commerce and overseas expansion, see Israel Jonathan , Dutch primacy in world trade, 1585–1740 (Oxford, 1989), and Boxer Charles , The Dutch seaborne empire, 1600–1800 (London, 1965). For a discussion of the relation between commerce and cultural activities in the Dutch Republic (such as illustrations of natural history) see Freedberg David , “Science, commerce, and art: Neglected topics at the junction of history and art history”, in Freedberg David de Vries Jan (eds), Art in history/History in art: Studies in seventeenth-century Dutch culture (Santa Monica, 1991), 377–428.

On learned societies and popularization of the sciences in the Netherlands, see van Berkel Klaas van Helden Albert Palm Lodewijk , A history of science in the Netherlands (Leiden, Boston and Cologne, 1999), 76–88; Mijnhardt Wijnand , Tot heil van 't menschdom: Culturele genootschappen in Nederland, 1750–1815 (Amsterdam, 1987); idem, “The Dutch Enlightenment: Humanism, nationalism and decline”, in Jacob Margaret Mijnhardt Wijnand , The Dutch Republic in the eighteenth century: Decline, enlightenment, and revolution (Ithaca and London, 1992), 197–223; Roberts Lissa , “Going Dutch: Situating science in the Dutch Enlightenment”, in Clark William Golinski Jan Schaffer Simon (eds), The sciences in enlightened Europe (Chicago, 1999), 350–88.

The historian Jaap van der Veen studied ninety collections in Amsterdam from the period 1585–1735. Sixty-seven of these contained naturalia, of which sixty-two included shells. See Bergvelt Ellinoor Kistemaker Renée (eds), De wereld binnen handbereik (Zwolle, 1992), 233. For the special preference for shells in the Republic, see Coomans Henry E. , “Conchology before Linnaeus”, in Impey Oliver MacGregor Arthur (eds), The origins of museums (Oxford, 1985), 188–92, and Dance S. Peter , A history of shell collecting (Leiden, 1986), 26–29.

All these prints are reproduced in: Irmgard Müsch, Rainer Willman, Jes Rust, Albertus Seba: Cabinet of natural curiosities (Cologne, 2001).

See Engel Hendrik , “The life of Albert Seba”, Svenska Linné-sällskapets arsskrift, xx (1937), 75–100.

See Montias John Michael , “Book review: De wereld binnen handbereik: Nederlands kunst- en rariteitenverzamelingen, 1585–1735”, Simiolis, xxii (1993), 99–105. Montias pointed out that from seventy-nine of the ninety collectors studied by Jaap van der Veen (see ref. 11), the religious signature was known. Within this group there were only four collectors of a Catholic conviction, and only two of these possessed some natural objects. This is significantly less than the estimated Catholic population in Amsterdam: C. 25%. From sixty-three collectors who possessed natural objects, forty-five were Reformed, six Lutheran and nine Mennonite.

For introductions on Dutch collections of this period in English, see Scheurleer Th. H. Lunsingh , “Early Dutch cabinets of curiosities”, in Impey Oliver MacGregor Arthur (eds), The origins of museums (Oxford, 1985), 115–20; van Gelder Roelof van der Veen Jaap , “Collecting in the time of Rembrandt: Art and curiosa in the seventeenth century”, in van den Boogert Bob (ed.), Rembrandt's treasures (Zwolle, 1999), 11–31, and Beekman E. M. (transl.), The Ambonese curiosity cabinet/Georg Everhard Rumphius (New Haven and London, 1999), pp. civ–cxi.

Scheller R. W. , “Rembrandt en de encyclopedische verzameling”, Oud Holland, lxxxiv (1969), 81–147, and Scheurleer Lunsing , “Early Dutch cabinets” (ref. 15).

Examples of important studies of the search for theoretical backgrounds and underpinning structures of divers collections in Europe are: Scheicher Elisabeth , Die Kunst- und Wunderkammern der Habsburger (Vienna, 1979); Pomian Krzysztof , Collectors and curiosities: Paris and Venice, 1500–1800 (Cambridge, 1987; first published in French in 1987); Meijers Debora , Kunst als Natuur: Die Habsburger Gemäldegalerie in Wien um 1780 (Vienna and Milan, 1995; first published in Dutch in 1991); Hooper-Greenhill Eilean , Museums and the shaping of knowledge (London, 1992); Olmi Guiseppe , L'inventario del mondo (Bologna, 1992); Bredekamp Horst , Antikensehnsucht und Maschinenglauben (Berlin, 1993); and Findlen Paula , Possessing nature: Museums, collecting, and scientific culture in early modern Italy (Berkeley, 1994). The essays in Impey Oliver MacGregor Arthur (eds), The origins of museums (Oxford, 1985), and Grote Andreas (ed.), Macrocosmos in Microcosmo: Die Welt in der Stube (Opladen, 1994), offer a multitude of case studies. For discussions of (the major part of) the above-mentioned literature, see Daston Lorraine , “The factual sensibility”, Isis, lxxix (1988), 452–70, and Herklotz Ingo , “Forschungberichte: Neue Literatur zur Sammlungsgeschichte”, Kunstchronik, xlvii (1994), 117–35.

Olmi Giuseppe , “Science–honour–metaphor: Italian cabinets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries”, in Impey MacGregor , Origins (ref. 11), 5–16, pp. 13 and 15.

See for instance Pomian , Collectors (ref. 17), 53–60.

Daston , “Factual sensibility” (ref. 17).

For studies in search for less evident explanations for the arrangements of collections, see Bredekamp , Antikensehnsucht (ref. 17), Hooper-Greenhill , Museums (ref. 17); Meijers , Kunst als Natur (ref. 17); and Scheicher , Kunst- und Wunderkammern (ref. 17).

Tayler Edward William , Nature and art in Renaissance literature (New York and London. 1964), 21, 2–3.

On the relation between nature and art in the early modern period see Tayler , Nature and art (ref. 22), and Daston Lorraine Park Katherine , Wonders and the order of nature, 1150–1750 (New York, 1998), chap. 7.

Daston Park , Wonders (ref. 23), 264–5.

Scheicher , Kunst- und Wunderkammern (ref. 17), 12: “Art bedeutet demnach hier Kunstfertigkeit im Sinne der Beherrschung einer Wissenschaft, durch die der Mensch imstande ist, ordnend und korrigierend in die Natur einzugreifen.”.

Scheicher , Kunst- und Wunderkammern (ref. 17), 12. This print was discussed before by Tayler , Nature and art (ref. 22), 2, and was reproduced in Bredekamp , Antikensehnsucht (ref. 17), 69. The print, titled Integrae naturae speculum artisque imago (Mirror of the whole of nature and image of the arts), was made to illustrate the book of the English natural philosopher Robert Fludd: Utriusque cosmi majoris historia (Oppenheim, 1617).

van Gelder Roelof , “De wereld binnen handbereik”, in Bergvelt Kistemaker (eds), Wereld (ref. 11), 15–38, pp. 34–36.

van Gelder Roelof , “Noordnederlandse verzamelingen in de zeventiende eeuw”, in Bergvelt Ellinoor Meijers Debora Rijnders Mieke (eds), Verzamelen (Heerlen, 1993), 123–44, pp. 138–9. Van Gelder substitutes the Dutch expression “zintuiglijk plezier” for his earlier “esthetische beleving”.

Shapin Steven Schaffer Simon , Leviathan and the air-pump (Princeton, 1985). For a thorough discussion of recent and classic literature on the history of sciences see the “Bibliographic essay”, in Shapin Steven , The scientific revolution (Chicago and London, 1996), 167–211.

Bergvelt Kistemaker , Wereld (ref. 11), 5–6. Other topics covered were: The supply of objects, art and curiosities in the interior and the visitors of the collections. Only the contributions of Jan van der Waals (about the world view of the Dutch collector), Klaas van Berkel (about collections of natural objects), and Jaap van der Veen (about the social and cultural backgrounds of ninety collectors in Amsterdam) venture a broader approach.

Van Gelder van der Veen , Rembrandt's treasures (ref. 15), 31: “Comparing nature to art was commonplace, and it recurs time and time again in panegyrics to collections and in the prefaces to catalogues. The same can be said of the awe in which people held the Creator. …”.

Blankaart Stephanus , Schouburg der rupsen, wormen, maden en vliegende dierkens (Amsterdam, 1668), fol. 3 verso, 11–12, 44–45.

In 1717 Schijnvoet designed a frontispiece for Merian's Der rupsen begin, voedzel en wonderbaare verandering (Amsterdam, 1717). In 1719, two years after the death of Merian, he urged the publisher Johan Oosterwijk to publish a second, revised edition (according to Merian's own intentions) of her famous book about Surinam insects Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Amsterdam, 1719). See the preface of the publisher in this edition. In Merian's own preface of the edition from 1705 she asserts that she was encouraged in her work by several “liefhebbers”. Possibly Schijnvoet was one of them.

Two letters of these scholars, addressed to Schijnvoet, are kept in the library of the University of Leiden, signatures BPL 885 and LTK 993.

Halma François in Rumphius Georg Everhard , D'Amboinsche rariteitkamer (Amsterdam, 1705), fol. ** 3 verso and fol. ** 4 recto.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 670.

van der Waals Jan , De prentschat van Michiel Hinloopen (The Hague, 1988), 9–10.

Schijnvoet published a collection of two thousand moralizing aphorisms entitled Kortbondige Zinspreuken en Zeedelessen (Amsterdam, 1689). One of his plays was published posthumously: Simon Schijnvoet, De kistkruiper, of bedrooge vrijer (Amsterdam, 1776).

Ground plans of these gardens are kept in the Atlas Beudeker in the British Library, London, print room C.9.e.9, folio 69 verso (Soelen) and C.9.e.11, folio 48 recto (Petersburg). On Schijnvoet's garden architecture, see Bienfait A. G. , Oude Hollandsche Tuinen (The Hague, 1943), 167–9, 172–5; de Jong Erik , Natuur en Kunst (Amsterdam, 1993), 56, 163, 170, 171, 173–6, 184; Kuyper W. , “Schijnvoets ‘nette schets’ van Christoffel Beudekers lustplaats Soelen teruggevonden”, Bulletin van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond, lxxvi (1977), 1–8; and Meijer Jola , “De buitenplaats Petersburg, een ontwerp van Simon Schijnvoet”, Bulletin van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond, xcv (1996), 203–13.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 671–2.

Catalogus van het wytvermaarde en zeer uitmuntende kabinet van allerhande zoorten der raarste hoorens, schelpen en zeegewassen … nagelaten zyn door … Simon Schijnvoet (auction catalogue, 26 August 1744, Amsterdam), fol. 4 recto: “alle de laeden zyn met wit Armosyn gevoert, sommige met fraaye Parterres gemaekt, waar in ider Hoorntje op zig zelfs legt, rontsomme met blau geschilderde Lysjes, so dat dezelve niet onder elkanderen vallen.”.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 671.

For a full description of Schijnvoet's cabinet of curiosities, see van de Roemer Bert , “De geschikte natuur” (dissertation, University of Amsterdam, in preparation).

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 669.

Catalogus … schelpen … Simon Schijnvoet (ref. 41), fol. 4 recto.

See le Franq van Berkheij Johannes , Natuurlyke Historie van Holland II.2 (Amsterdam, 1771), 1196–7.

Catalogus … schelpen … Simon Schijnvoet (ref. 41), fol. 4 recto.

See for the relation between gardens and cabinets: Hunt John Dixon , “Curiosities to adorn cabinets and gardens”, in Impey MacGregor (eds), Origins (ref. 11), 193–203.

On this treatise see de Jong Erik , “For profit and ornament: The function and meaning of Dutch garden art in the period of William and Mary, 1650–1702”, in Hunt John Dixon (ed.), The Dutch garden in the seventeenth century (Washington, D.C., 1990), 13–48.

Een versameling van veele keurlyke boeken … naagelaten door Simon Schynvoet (auction catalogue, 2 February 1728, Amsterdam), 174.

van der Groen Jan , Den Nederlandtsen Hovenier (Amsterdam, 1669), fol. B1 verso.

Van der Groen , Hovenier (ref. 51), 42–47.

Van der Groen , Hovenier (ref. 51), 48–71.

Van der Groen , Hovenier (ref. 51), B2 recto.

De Jong , Natuur en Kunst (ref. 39), 38.

Bogaert Abraham , De gedichten van Abraham Bogaert (Amsterdam, 1723), 387–8; Vincent Levinus , Korte beschryving van den inhout der cabinetten (The Hague, 1727), 20.

Wittkower Rudolf , Architectural principles in the Age of Humanism (London and New York, 1988; first publ. in 1949), 18.

Wittkower , Architectural principles (ref. 57), 32–34.

“Es ist deren nicht nur eine sehr grosse und dennoch auserlesene Menge, sodern sie sind auch zierlich in allerhand Arten von Eintheilungen, und dabey nach ihren generibus und speciebus so wohl gelegt, dass man die accurateste historiam naturalem Conchyliorum daraus erlernen kan …”, von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 669.

About the taxonomical work of Rumphius see von Martens E. , “Die Mollusken (Conchylien) und die übrigen wirbellosen Thiere im Rumpf's Raritätkammer”, in Greshoff M. Heeres J. E. (eds), Rumphius Gedenkboek (Haarlem, 1902), 109–36, and Dance , History of shell collecting (ref. 11), 26–29.

Shells of the first order are discussed in chaps. 1 to 25, of the second order in 26 and 27, and of the third order in 28 and 30 to 37.

In Appendix 3 of my dissertation, “De geschikte natuur” (ref. 43), I give a more detailed record of this research. It is hazardous to put the actual content of a collection on a par with the description of this collection in an auction catalogue. Nevertheless in this particular case, I think it is quite safe to do so, because the preface of the catalogue of Schijnvoet's mineral cabinet (which was published in a pair with the catalogue of the shell cabinet) reports that these printed catalogues were made after the handwritten inventory of the owner himself.

The 5th drawer contained species of Cochlea Globosae, the fifth family according to Rumphius; the 7th, 9th and 15th drawers contained species of Cochlea Lunaris and Trochus, both belonging to the second family according to Rumphius; the 11th contained species of Cochlea Valvatae, the first subfamily of the third family according to Rumphius; the 16th mostly contained Murices and some Turbinata, the fourth and sixth family respectively according to Rumphius; the 17th contained Murices and Cassides, both categorized under the fourth family by Rumphius; the 18th contained Strombidae, the ninth family according to Rumphius; the 21st contained Porcellanae, the tenth family according to Rumphius; the 23rd contained species of Cochlea Globosae, the fifth family according to Rumphius; the 24th contained species of Cassides Leaves, the third division of the fourth family according to Rumphius; while the drawer contained Strombidae, the ninth family according to Rumphius.

These are drawers nos 7, 8, 10, 15, 19, 20, 22, 25 and 27.

Rumphius described the Harpidae, the Voluta marmorata (Conus marmoreus) and the Voluta fasciata (Conus generalis) as the eighth, ninth and seventeenth species of the eighth family. See Rumphius , Amboinsche Rariteitkamer (ref. 35), 104–6. I would like to thank Rob Moolenbeek of the Zoological Museum for helping me with the identification of the shells.

Beekman , Ambonese curiosity cabinet (ref. 15), p. xc. Beekman assumes that Schijnvoet was a “living patron” of Halma, but this is not probable. In the early years of the eighteenth century Schijnvoet was not in the position to give commissions, but rather to receive them.

Beekman , Ambonese curiosity cabinet (ref. 15), p. cxii.

Dance , History of shell collecting (ref. 11), 31.

Dance , History of shell collecting (ref. 11), 54.

Ullmann Ernst , Maria Sybilla Merian (Lucerne, 1974), 123.

Valentijn François , Oud en nieuw Oost-Indiën (Amsterdam, 1727–28), 561.

Rumphius , Amboinsche rariteitkamer (ref. 35), fol. * 5 verso.

Rumphius , Amboinsche rariteitkamer, 163–4.

Schijnvoet in Rumphius , Amboinsche rariteitkamer, 62.

Catalogus van een uytmuntende party tekeningen en prenten … nagelaten door Simon Schynvoet (auction catalogue, 18 February 1728, Amsterdam), 10.

Schijnvoetin Rumphius, Amboinsche rariteitkamer (ref. 35), 81, 107 and 108.

Schijnvoet in Amboinsche rariteitkamer, 160–1.

On Major, see Schulz Eva , “Notes on the history of collecting and of museums in the light of selected literature from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century”, Journal of the history of collections, ii (1990), 204–18; Bredekamp , Antikensehnsucht (ref. 17), 43–44.

Versameling … boeken … Simon Schijnvoet (ref. 50), 12.

For more information about the libraries of Dutch collectors in the seventeenth century, see van der Waals Jan , “Met boek en plaat: Het boeken- en atlassenbezit van verzamelaars”, in Bergvelt Kistemaker (eds), Wereld (ref. 11), 205–31.

Major Johan Daniel , Unvorgreiffliches Bedencken von Kunst- und Naturalien-Kammern insgemein (Kiel, 1674), §8.2, §6.1, §8.6. From the edition in Michael Bernhard Valentini, Museum museorum (Frankfurt am Main, 1704).

Major , Unvorgreiffliches (ref. 81), §1.1. From the edition in Valentini , Museum museorum (ref. 81).

Major , Unvorgreiffliches (ref. 81), §1.4.

Major , Unvorgreiffliches (ref. 81), §1.7.

The Dutch Confession of Faith was written in 1561 by Guido de Brès. In 1619 it was officially acknowledged by the Dutch Reformed Church at the Synod of Dordrecht.

As translated in Hooykaas Reyer , Religion and the rise of modern science (Edinburgh and London, 1972), 105.

Hooykaas , Religion (ref. 86), 98–99, 105.

De Jong , Natuur en kunst (ref. 39), 38.

Bakker Boudewijn Leeflang Huigen , Nederland naar 't leven: Landschapsprenten uit de Gouden Eeuw (Zwolle, 1993).

de Klijn M. , De invloed van het Calvinisme op de Noord-Nederlanse landschapschilderkunst 1570–1630 (Apeldoorn, 1982).

Bakker Leeflang , Nederland (ref. 89), 24; Balke W. , “Calvijn over de geschapen werkelijkheid in zijn psalmencommentaar”, in Balke W. (ed.), Wegen en gestalten in het Gereformeerde Protestantisme (Amsterdam, 1976), 89–105. With regard to the topic of this paper Calvin's Commentary on Psalms is especially illuminating. According to the reformer, it was the duty of humankind to look for the “ordo naturae” or “ordo creationis”, which God had laid down in His Creation, and which had degenerated after the Original Sin into a “tristis rerum confusio”.

Israel Jonathan , Radical enlightenment: Philosophy and the making of modernity 1650–1750 (Oxford, 2001); Jacob Margaret , The radical enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans (London, 1981); Hazard Paul , La crise de la conscience européenne (1680–1715) (Paris, 1935).

Bogaert Abraham , De gedichten van Abraham Bogaert (Amsterdam, 1723), 389.

Vincent Levinus , Wondertooneel der Nature (Amsterdam, 1706), 23. See also the article of Emma Spary in this volume.

On the religious motive of Dutch collectors in this period, see van de Roemer Bert , “God en het rariteitenkabinet: Het religieuze motief van Noord-Nederlanse rariteitenverzamelaars eind zeventiende en begin achttiende eeuw”, Theoretische geschiedenis, xxv (1998), 242–55. This article presents more examples of religious statements by Dutch collectors.

Nieuwentijt Bernard , Het regt gebruik der wereltbeschouwingen ter overtuiginge van ongodisten en ongelovigen (Amsterdam, 1715), 561.

Von Uffenbach , Merkwürdige Reisen (ref. 3), 669.

Naamlijst van het zeer uitmuntend kabinet van allerhande soorten van de raarste bergstoffen … nagelaaten… Simon Schijnvoet (auction catalogue, June 1744, Amsterdam), 10: “Water in Steen veranderd, door den berugte Boile, doende dezelve ten Overstaan van zeeker voornaam Heer, maar een wynig Poeder in een glas met Water, waar op het in wynig tyds in Steen veranderde.”.

Böhmme Gemot Böhme Harmut , Feuer, Wasser, Erde, Luft: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Elemente (Munich, 1996), 134.

Ibid., 140–2.

van Hoogstraten David , “Aen den vernuftigen Simon Schynvoet”, 1695, in Simon Schijnvoeds Stamboek (late seventeenth-/early eighteenth-century manuscript, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), signature 310 N.

Wellekens Jan Baptista , ibid.: “Spoor na zyn voetstap, hoe hy 't alles heeft gesticht; En wyslyk schikte in maat, getallen en gewicht; Zoo word de Schepper in zyn wonderdaân gepreezen.”.