Global Narratives and Knowledge Production in the Collection of Nicolaes Witsen
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Authors
Conlin, Rose Marie
Date
2024-09-17
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Art History , History of Science , Colonial History , Natural History , Culture of Curiosity , The Netherlands c. 1700
Alternative Title
Abstract
The Amsterdam burgomaster and Dutch East India Company director Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717) compiled an extensive collection of material goods, natural specimens, and an immense visual archive of images, rivalling princely collections outside the Dutch Republic. Witsen’s collection did not exist solely for his personal pleasure nor to supplement his reputation but was used as an ever-developing research tool in Witsen’s endeavours to acquire, distribute, and process information. This dissertation seeks to illuminate how Witsen used his visual archive to supplement his investigations and those of a global network of correspondents. First, it identifies important figures in Witsen’s collecting network and analyzes the epistemological values informing their discussions to determine how Witsen valued and employed images to supplement research pursued alongside his peers, and as tools of eyewitness testimony. Second, I present two case studies based on objects once in his collection, considering their global narratives and how they reflect the variety of functions objects in collections performed in early modern discourse. The first case study examines an album of painted plant studies originating from Batavia (today Jakarta, Indonesia). It analyses the album’s material origins and content and considers how Witsen employed the album and its images to supplement the resources of the Amsterdam Hortus Botanicus. The second case study examines the evidence for painted portraits, now lost, of two men abducted from the island New Guinea, identified by their Dutch-given names Pieter Geel and Jan Craanvogel. It considers how Witsen used images and his reports from his network to investigate the peoples inhabiting New Guinea and the portraits’ function as evidentiary images testifying to Witsen’s authority on the subject by documenting his personal encounter with the two men, also recorded in verbal accounts. This dissertation asserts that images held an authoritative position in Witsen’s collecting and research, functioning as both testimonies to lived experiences and tools to reliably re-present global subjects otherwise inaccessible at the various stages of inquiry pursued by the armchair traveller and his contacts.
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Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.