Voorland in de Watergraafsmeer

Published: my latest article in the third collection of articles by Cascade, the garden history society of the Netherlands. Themed ‘lost gardens’, my piece focusses on Voorland near Amsterdam. Even before this garden disappeared under the (previous!) stadium of football club Ajax in 1934, the estate had already been dismantled and turned into a regular farm in 1845.
The increasingly digitised archives of the Six-family give a fair amount of detail about the people involved with the design and layout of this garden. They (Johann Georg Michael and his ‘help’ or ‘aide’ – future son-in-law Johann David Zocher) belong to the top of Dutch garden designers of the late 18th, early 19th century. And yes, they were both of German origin.

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Summary

Published: my latest article in the third collection of articles by Cascade, the garden history society of the Netherlands. Themed ‘lost gardens’, my piece focusses on Voorland near Amsterdam. Even before this garden disappeared under the (previous!) stadium of football club Ajax in 1934, the estate had already been dismantled and turned into a regular farm in 1845.
The increasingly digitised archives of the Six-family give a fair amount of detail about the people involved with the design and layout of this garden. They (Johann Georg Michael and his ‘help’ or ‘aide’ – future son-in-law Johann David Zocher) belong to the top of Dutch garden designers of the late 18th, early 19th century. And yes, they were both of German origin.

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De ‘Rouina’ van Huys ten Donck revisited

Over five years ago I posted a piece about the ruin in the park of Huys ten Donck, near Ridderkerk. The estate accounts mention the ruin had been stuccoed in 1777. Based on that, and on the only available photo of a contemporary painting, I concluded that the glass painting made by Zeuner shows this stuccoed front. The original, however, shows a brick wall. It appears this old photo is very bad (unfortunately I have no better photo). I still stand by my conclusion, although this new information raises several other questions.

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Summary

Over five years ago I posted a piece about the ruin in the park of Huys ten Donck, near Ridderkerk. The estate accounts mention the ruin had been stuccoed in 1777. Based on that, and on the only available photo of a contemporary painting, I concluded that the glass painting made by Zeuner shows this stuccoed front. The original, however, shows a brick wall. It appears this old photo is very bad (unfortunately I have no better photo). I still stand by my conclusion, although this new information raises several other questions.

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Een driepuntsbrug op De Horte bij Dalfsen

The first addition to my ‘triple bridges’ map in almost five years is the one at De Horte, near Dalfsen. It is shown on a survey map dated c1820, but could it have been created just after 1800, around the time of the one at Den Alerdinck, not even five kilometers to the south of De Horte?

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Summary

The first addition to my ‘triple bridges’ map in almost five years is the one at De Horte, near Dalfsen. It is shown on a survey map dated c1820, but could it have been created just after 1800, around the time of the one at Den Alerdinck, not even five kilometers to the south of De Horte?

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Repton, Woudrichem and Rotterdam

Waarin wordt gespeculeerd welke personen er mogelijkerwijs voor hebben gezorgd dat Humphry Repton het schooljaar 1764-65 in Woudrichem doorbracht.

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Summary

Waarin wordt gespeculeerd welke personen er mogelijkerwijs voor hebben gezorgd dat Humphry Repton het schooljaar 1764-65 in Woudrichem doorbracht.

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John Adey Repton in Utrecht?

Humphry Repton’s son John Adey Repton is said to have worked in Utrecht in 1822. Do we know what he did there? Here’s some context for the continental trip during which he is supposed to have done that.

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Summary

Humphry Repton’s son John Adey Repton is said to have worked in Utrecht in 1822. Do we know what he did there? Here’s some context for the continental trip during which he is supposed to have done that.

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Een blik op Tuinenga’s kwekerij bij Dokkum

A recently restored painting of almost 2.5 meters long caught my eye the other day. Diving into the history of the portrayed area and identifying the owners of the nursery, I also spotted a garden owner who is well known in Dutch garden history. For now, there is little more than a tentatively interesting but frustratingly small connection between the two.

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Summary

A recently restored painting of almost 2.5 meters long caught my eye the other day. Diving into the history of the portrayed area and identifying the owners of the nursery, I also spotted a garden owner who is well known in Dutch garden history. For now, there is little more than a tentatively interesting but frustratingly small connection between the two.

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Humphry Repton lived in Woudrichem, not Workum

In 2018 wordt in het Verenigd Koninkrijk veel aandacht besteed aan landschapsarchitect Humphry Repton (1752-1818). Als tiener verbleef Repton een aantal jaar in Nederland. Volgens zijn biografie verbleef hij het eerste jaar in Workum, waar hij onderwijs kreeg van ene Algidius Zimmerman. Nader onderzoek wijst uit dat deze drie elementen uit zijn biografie niet kloppen.

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Summary

In 2018 wordt in het Verenigd Koninkrijk veel aandacht besteed aan landschapsarchitect Humphry Repton (1752-1818). Als tiener verbleef Repton een aantal jaar in Nederland. Volgens zijn biografie verbleef hij het eerste jaar in Workum, waar hij onderwijs kreeg van ene Algidius Zimmerman. Nader onderzoek wijst uit dat deze drie elementen uit zijn biografie niet kloppen.

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Maaslust te Rotterdam, een aanleg van Louis Paul Zocher

Maaslust, a Rotterdam villa where Louis Paul Zocher laid out a garden in 1875, is still omitted in two recent (explicitly preliminary) overviews of the works of this illustrious family of architects. It is time to refer to a 2001 publication, where the evidence was already gathered. And to add some of my own.

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Summary

Maaslust, a Rotterdam villa where Louis Paul Zocher laid out a garden in 1875, is still omitted in two recent (explicitly preliminary) overviews of the works of this illustrious family of architects. It is time to refer to a 2001 publication, where the evidence was already gathered. And to add some of my own.

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