Een buurman als influencer?

The publication of a richly illustrated travel journal, a trip through Southern England and to London undertaken by four Dutchmen in 1769, leads to new ideas about a garden in the Netherlands. Paul Hurgronje, one of the 1769 travellers, went on to buy an estate in Heemstede in 1775 (Spruytenbosch). I have written extensively about the garden layout of Westerhout, bordering to the north of Spruytenbosch, in these years. And I am now left wondering whether Hurgronje’s direct knowledge of English gardens and parks may have influenced the landscape style layout of Westerhout, his direct neighbours?

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Summary

The publication of a richly illustrated travel journal, a trip through Southern England and to London undertaken by four Dutchmen in 1769, leads to new ideas about a garden in the Netherlands. Paul Hurgronje, one of the 1769 travellers, went on to buy an estate in Heemstede in 1775 (Spruytenbosch). I have written extensively about the garden layout of Westerhout, bordering to the north of Spruytenbosch, in these years. And I am now left wondering whether Hurgronje’s direct knowledge of English gardens and parks may have influenced the landscape style layout of Westerhout, his direct neighbours?

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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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Published: Adriaan Snoek at 18th century Westerhout

Mijn meest recente artikel is net uit, samen met andere mooie artikelen verschenen in de tweede bundel van tuinhistorisch genootschap Cascade, onder de naam Tuingeschiedenis in Nederland. Dit postje geeft kort de inhoud van dat artikel in het Engels weer. Nederlandstaligen die benieuwd zijn naar bronverwijzingen (of gewoon meer willen weten), worden verwezen naar bovengenoemde publicatie.
Vragen stellen aan de hand van dit bericht kan natuurlijk ook, aanvullingen worden helemaal op prijs gesteld.

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Summary

Mijn meest recente artikel is net uit, samen met andere mooie artikelen verschenen in de tweede bundel van tuinhistorisch genootschap Cascade, onder de naam Tuingeschiedenis in Nederland. Dit postje geeft kort de inhoud van dat artikel in het Engels weer. Nederlandstaligen die benieuwd zijn naar bronverwijzingen (of gewoon meer willen weten), worden verwezen naar bovengenoemde publicatie.
Vragen stellen aan de hand van dit bericht kan natuurlijk ook, aanvullingen worden helemaal op prijs gesteld.

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Sporen van een tuinpiramide

Laser altimetry technology reveals the location of what is most probably the footprint of a lost garden pyramid in The Netherlands. It seems to be several meters north from the location indicated on maps from the 1780’s, but it may have been moved towards the bank of the pond after that was created in 1792.
Until further on-site research is done, the idea that this shape is merely the result of an anomaly in the picture, can not be completely ruled out, though.

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Summary

Laser altimetry technology reveals the location of what is most probably the footprint of a lost garden pyramid in The Netherlands. It seems to be several meters north from the location indicated on maps from the 1780’s, but it may have been moved towards the bank of the pond after that was created in 1792.
Until further on-site research is done, the idea that this shape is merely the result of an anomaly in the picture, can not be completely ruled out, though.

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Harde en Evergreene Heester Trees, Shrobbs

Published: my piece about the 18th century nurseryman Jacobus Gans, whose bold move from Haarlem to Hillegom (and his purchase of an estate there in 1771), is now explained. His formerly unknown partnership with Rotterdam merchant Bastiaan Molewater (1734-1780) played a deciding role in the rise and fall of his nursery.
The move itself makes it possible to put a date on Gans’ undated catalogues, especially because an unknown version has come to light, on which his sole address is still in Haarlem only.

Gans had ‘English’ and ‘American’ plants for sale, and mentioned that he had gone to England himself to collect them there. His use of ‘English’ terms when advertising the sales catalogue of these plants (see the advert and the title of this post), shows that no proper Dutch vocabulary was available (yet) for this type of planting material.

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Summary

Published: my piece about the 18th century nurseryman Jacobus Gans, whose bold move from Haarlem to Hillegom (and his purchase of an estate there in 1771), is now explained. His formerly unknown partnership with Rotterdam merchant Bastiaan Molewater (1734-1780) played a deciding role in the rise and fall of his nursery.
The move itself makes it possible to put a date on Gans’ undated catalogues, especially because an unknown version has come to light, on which his sole address is still in Haarlem only.

Gans had ‘English’ and ‘American’ plants for sale, and mentioned that he had gone to England himself to collect them there. His use of ‘English’ terms when advertising the sales catalogue of these plants (see the advert and the title of this post), shows that no proper Dutch vocabulary was available (yet) for this type of planting material.

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1760s Hanoverian landscape gardens, and a masonic lodge

Vanwege de ‘Personalunion’ tussen het Britse rijk en het Keurvorstendom Hannover waren de onderlinge banden tussen 1714 en 1837 bijzonder sterk. Toch duurde het ook in het Duitse deel van de unie -net als in Nederland- tot in de 1760-er jaren, voordat de landschapsstijl doorbrak. Twee voortrekkers van de stijl in Hannover blijken tevens vrijmetselaar te zijn geweest, en bovendien lid van dezelfde loge.

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Summary

Vanwege de ‘Personalunion’ tussen het Britse rijk en het Keurvorstendom Hannover waren de onderlinge banden tussen 1714 en 1837 bijzonder sterk. Toch duurde het ook in het Duitse deel van de unie -net als in Nederland- tot in de 1760-er jaren, voordat de landschapsstijl doorbrak. Twee voortrekkers van de stijl in Hannover blijken tevens vrijmetselaar te zijn geweest, en bovendien lid van dezelfde loge.

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Methode voor het planten van een magnolia (1771)

A bill concerning the delivery of two trees in 1771 for Huys ten Donck reveals a specific method for the planting of magnolias. They had to be planted in the pot they were delivered in. After one or two years this pot should then be broken, while in the ground.

Philip Miller originally suggested to keep the plant in pots for the first two years (after sowing), so the tender young plants could be brought in when necessary during those first years. After that, they went into the ground, pot-less.

Apparently the succes rate of newly planted magnolias had been below expectation. Magnolias ranked under the most expensive garden plants of the time, so losing one of those was a costly and frustrating affair. Twenty-five years after the Dutch translation of Miller’s work was published, their planting method in the Netherlands had changed -probably as a result of that.

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Summary

A bill concerning the delivery of two trees in 1771 for Huys ten Donck reveals a specific method for the planting of magnolias. They had to be planted in the pot they were delivered in. After one or two years this pot should then be broken, while in the ground.

Philip Miller originally suggested to keep the plant in pots for the first two years (after sowing), so the tender young plants could be brought in when necessary during those first years. After that, they went into the ground, pot-less.

Apparently the succes rate of newly planted magnolias had been below expectation. Magnolias ranked under the most expensive garden plants of the time, so losing one of those was a costly and frustrating affair. Twenty-five years after the Dutch translation of Miller’s work was published, their planting method in the Netherlands had changed -probably as a result of that.

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‘op den donck gewerk aan de gabinet genaam Rouina’

The designer and builder of the ruin in the park of Huys ten Donck, near Ridderkerk, has been discovered. Two bills -which I found last week in the Rotterdam Municipal Archives, or Stadsarchief Rotterdam– reveal the identity of the architect as the Rotterdam-based Italian Giovanni (Jan) Giudici (1746-1819). The title of this post is a direct quote from one of these bills mentioning the work, in Dutch mixed with Italian influences.
That bill also leads to the conclusion that the ruin, now basically a screen of brick and stone, was originally covered in plaster when it was built in 1777.

This find adds at least one item to this architect’s portfolio, whose legacy was so hard hit by the 15 minute bombing of Rotterdam by German forces on May 14, 1940. This tragedy all but devastated the inner city, including what was left there of the architect’s work.
Luckily some of his work done outside that city can still be seen. We now know that part of his legacy is at Huys ten Donck near Ridderkerk. The house itself may contain more of his work, these same bills reveal. Architectural historians can chew on that piece of information.

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Summary

The designer and builder of the ruin in the park of Huys ten Donck, near Ridderkerk, has been discovered. Two bills -which I found last week in the Rotterdam Municipal Archives, or Stadsarchief Rotterdam– reveal the identity of the architect as the Rotterdam-based Italian Giovanni (Jan) Giudici (1746-1819). The title of this post is a direct quote from one of these bills mentioning the work, in Dutch mixed with Italian influences.
That bill also leads to the conclusion that the ruin, now basically a screen of brick and stone, was originally covered in plaster when it was built in 1777.

This find adds at least one item to this architect’s portfolio, whose legacy was so hard hit by the 15 minute bombing of Rotterdam by German forces on May 14, 1940. This tragedy all but devastated the inner city, including what was left there of the architect’s work.
Luckily some of his work done outside that city can still be seen. We now know that part of his legacy is at Huys ten Donck near Ridderkerk. The house itself may contain more of his work, these same bills reveal. Architectural historians can chew on that piece of information.

Continue reading