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

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.

1. Existing awareness within the academic community: I have presented my research on Block on several instances at academic conferences (for example at CAA in Los Angeles (2018) and in New York (2019), at RSA (virtual, 2021), at a conference of the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, in Paris (2021), and at the First Annual International Conference of Women in the arts (virtual, 2021). Accordingly, there is already a general awareness of and interest in this work within the academic community. 2. Upcoming exhibitions: The Mauritshuis, in The Hague, is planning an exhibition in early 2022 focusing on the Moninckx Atlas (a 9-volume illustrated catalogue of the Amsterdam botanical garden produced between 1686 and 1739), to which three artists who worked for Block (Johanna Helena Herolt, Alida Withoos, and Maria Moninckx) contributed. Jan Weenix’s portrait of Agnes Block and her family in front of Vijverhof (c. 1687-1693) will be on loan from the Amsterdam Museum and feature in the exhibition. This exhibition will alert a wider public to the existence of Block and of the significance of the artistic production intended in the furtherance of early modern natural history. The Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam, is planning an exhibition on insect illustration in the seventeenth century in mid-2022, which will feature works by Maria Sibylla Merian and by Cornelia de Rijk, who specialized in the illustration of insects and flora. The Rijksmuseum is planning an exhibition catalogue (to which I am a contributor), which will discuss briefly the important contribution of women to the illustration of early modern natural history. While the publication of this book will come after the exhibitions, these two events should provoke (if it did not already exist) a strong interest in the participation of women in the development of early modern natural history. 3. Ongoing promotion opportunities: On 1 October 2021, I officially began the research project “Hive Mind: Mentorship, Networking, and Collectivity Amongst Women Artists and Patrons in the Low Countries, 1650-1725.” Four of the artists who worked for Block are included in this project, as is Block. I am currently in the process of creating a project website, which will include a blog and an overview of the artists included in the project. This will provide a space to promote Block, the artists who worked for her and, eventually, the book. As part of the project Hive Mind, I am also in the early stages of co-organizing a conference with Dr. Jaya Remond (Ghent University), provisionally entitled “Flowers and Power/Power in Flowers.” The conference is being planned for 2023 and will provide a further opportunity to generate interest in Agnes Block and to promote the book. 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.