Levinus Vincent the Younger, (1658 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

– 8 November 1727 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

) was a rich Dutch designer of patterns and merchant of luxurious textiles, such as

damask Damask (; ) is a woven, Reversible garment, reversible patterned Textile, fabric. Damasks are woven by periodically reversing the action of the warp and weft threads. The pattern is most commonly created with a warp-faced satin weave and the gro ...

, silk and

brocade Brocade () is a class of richly decorative shuttle (weaving), shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in coloured silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian langua ...

.Colenbrander, S. (2010). Zolang de weefkunst bloeit : zijdeweverijen in Amsterdam en Haarlem, 1585-175

/ref>

Biography

Lieven's parents were Cornelis Joosten Heyns, a wine merchant from Harlingen, Netherlands, Harlingen and Neeltje IJsbrants from

Petten Petten is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Schagen, and lies about 15 km northwest of Alkmaar, on the North Sea. The population is ca. 1900. Petten's economy is based on agricu ...

, both

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

, who married in 1652. His mother was the widow of Vincent Pieters who lived at

Rokin The Rokin is a canal and major street in the centre of Amsterdam. The street runs from Muntplein, Amsterdam, Muntplein square to Dam Square, Dam square. The Rokin canal used to run from Muntplein square to Dam Square, but in 1936, the part between ...

. In 1657 his father was living in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

and was involved in Danish Africa Company, together with

Hendrik Carloff Hendrik Carloff, Caerloff or Caarlof was an adventurer and slave trader active in the 17th century. Carloff began his career as a cabin boy but rose to become a commander and governor appointed by the Dutch West India Company and Danish or the S ...

. The contract was signed in his (actually her) house. In 1666 he tried to save a ship named ''Charles'' after the

Holmes's Bonfire Holmes's Bonfire was a Raid (military), raid on the Vlie estuary in the Netherlands, executed by the English Fleet during the Second Anglo-Dutch War on 19 and 20 August 1666 New Style (9 and 10 August Old Style). The attack, named after the comma ...

. In 1668 Livinus (the Elder) and Ysbrand sold the house belonging to their mother. When Levinus married Joanna van Breda in 1683 his father was staying in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

(?) and his half brother in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

. Levinus lived at N.Z. Voorburgwal and from 1688 at Leliegracht (ZZ), with his wife and brother-in-law Anthony (-1693), who started the collection. In 1693 he joined the

himself. In 1697 he was visited by

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

. Levinus owned a

cabinet of curiosities Cabinets of curiosities ( and ), also known as wonder-rooms ( ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, t ...

, collected ''naturalia'' (with shells, insects, corals, birds, lizard and small mammals as wet preparations) and ''artificialia'' - (

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, paintings and drawings of flowers). In 1709 he sold his house in Amsterdam accompanied by Ysbrand Vincent. In 1712 Bernard Picart married his niece Anna Vincent; the wedding was in Haarlem, where Levinus had settled around 1705. He corresponded with

James Petiver James Petiver () was a London apothecary, a fellow of the Royal Society as well as London's informal Temple Coffee House Botany Club, famous for his specimen collections in which he traded and study of botany and entomology. He corresponded with ...

and

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British ...

. In 1715 he became a member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Vincent and his wife took a lot of effort to present their collectables in a pleasurable and instructive spectacle. They ordered their shells and insects in elegant designs that resembled magnificent pieces of embroidery. Levinus Vincent aimed at the non-Latin-speaking public, printing the catalogue of his collection in both Dutch and French - ''Wondertooneel der Nature'' (''Wonder Theater of Nature''), giving details of all the objects on display. This catalogue sold for three guilder plus a tip or entrance fee of two guilder. He had fixed hours for its visitors. His visitor book (from 1705 to 1737) includes at least 3,500 entries, including

Charles III of Spain Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

, François Valentijn and

Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave and Jacob Winslow, he is sometimes r ...

Notes

References

Sources

* Bert van de Roemer, Redressing the Balance: Levinus Vincent's Wonder Theatre of Nature, Public Domain Review, (http://publicdomainreview.org/2014/08/20/redressing-the-balance-levinus-vincents-wonder-theatre-of-nature/) * Freedberg, D & J. de Vries (eds) (1991) Science, Commerce and Art. In: Art in History, History in Art, p. 379, 386. * Vincent, L. (1715) Wondertooneel der Natuur, ofte een Korte Beschrijvinge zo van Bloedelooze, Zwemmende, Vliegende, Kruipende, en Viervoetige Geklaauwde Eijerleggende Dieren ... bevat in de Kabinetten van Levinus Vincent, adorned with a handsome title-page designed by Romeyn de Hooghe.

External links

Digital books (4) at the Universities of Strasbourg
The Wunderkammer
Levinus Vincent - Scientist of the Day
*Vincent, Levinus (1719
''Elinchus tabularum, pinacothecarum, atque nonnullorum cimeliorum, in gazophylacio''
- digital facsimile from

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Levinus 1658 births 1727 deaths Art collectors from Amsterdam Curators from Amsterdam Dutch entomologists Businesspeople from Amsterdam Fellows of the Royal Society Dutch art curators Dutch merchants