Hendrik Engel's Alphabetical List Dutch Zoological Cabinets ... - DWC

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Examples of this type of "Kunstkammer" collectors are Jan en Pieter Bisschop,
Wouter Valckenier and Rembrand van Rijn.
Aesthetic considerations influenced the collectors 1 s activities as appears
from the fact that they concentrated on animals like shells and colourful
insects, esp. butterflies. An aesthetic element can also be discerned in the
arrangement of the objects. The animals were generally exhibited in beautiful
and precious cases in which they were frequently arranged in an artistic
way. E.g. butterflies along embroidered lines forming geometric patterns
(Vincent) and shells depicting Neptune's head (Seba).
Collecting for the sake of science gradually became of decisive influence in
the establishment of zoological museums. Notable scientific collections from
the seventeenth century were, e.g., those of Swammerdam Sr. & Jr. and Frederik
Ruysch. The eighteenth century counted numerous important collectors.
Among them Camper, Gronovius Sr. & Jr., Houttuyn, Vosmaer (for the museum of
stadtholder William V). Besides mention must be made of institutional collections
of universities, scientific societies and surgeon's guilds.
It was certainly no exaggeration when Le Francq van Berkhey wrote that Holland
had become "a storehouse of rarities, especially of exotic natural products"
(Le Francq van Berkhey, 1769). This storehouse proved to exert a considerable
attraction on foreign scientists. E.g. Linnaeus, Pallas and
Pennant visited the Low Countries in order to study in the museums and menageries,
the plants and animals which could hardly be found in collections
elsewhere.
The knowledge of the history of zoological collecting in the Netherlands is
still very scanty. Particularly the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
seem to be a rewarding period for future research. Aspects which demand attention
are, e.g., the motives of the collectors, especially of the nonscientific
ones; the collector network; means of acquisition (auctions,
dealers etc.); the collections as public institutions (there are several interesting
visitors's books); the role of the collections in the development
of zoology.
The period 1800-now
This period can best be characterized by the dominant position of the state
and the institutional collections.
It started during the French occupation when King Louis Napoleon developed
the plan to provide the Dutch scientific cormnunity with something comparable
to the "Musee d'Histoire Naturelle". After he and his countrymen had been
expelled from the Netherlands, King William I took the initiative for a
State Museum of Natural History at Leiden. The nucleus of this museum consisted
of the collection brought together by Louis Napoleon, the remnants of
the Stadtholder's museum, the collection of Leiden university and the private
collections of Brugmans and Temminck.
Besides this central institution a great number of regional museums were
established in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their
rise and activities are clearly associated with the growing interest in