Title Gender and Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science Agnes Block, Botany, and Networks in the Dutch 17th Century Catherine Powell-Warren

Published Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press 2023

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Description 1 online resource (302 pages) illustrations Series Studies in Early Modernity in The Netherlands Studies in early modernity in the Netherlands. Contents 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 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 Summary 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 Analysis History, Art History, and Archaeology HIS Art and Material Culture ART & MAT Cultural Studies CULTURAL Dutch and The Netherlands DUTCH NL Early Modern Studies EARLY MOD Gender and Sexuality Studies GEND & SEXU Women and natural history; women participation in networks, women collectors, women cultural producers, women in knowledge communities Notes "Amsterdam University Press" Acknowledgements List of Figures and Photographic Credits Introduction Chapter 1. Vijverhof and the Pursuit of Nature Chapter 2. Vijverhof in Context Chapter 3. Vijverhof as a Space of Knowledge Creation, Exchange, and Relationships Chapter 4. Becoming Flora Batava Chapter 5. Flora Batava in Context Chapter 6. The Bloemenboek and Block's Watercolours: Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science Chapter 7. The Bloemenboek as a Meeting Place and Visual Manifestation of Agnes Block's Artistic Network Appendix A Bibliography Vendor-supplied metadata Subject Feminism and art. Feminism and art -- Netherlands -- History -- 17th century Fashion and art. History of art and design styles: c 1600 to c 1800. Individual artists, art monographs. ART / History / Renaissance. ART / Subjects & Themes / Plants & Animals. ART / Women Artists. History of art. Individual artists, art monographs. Botanical art. Form Electronic book ISBN 9048557674 9789048557677

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