The ''Pan Poëticon Batavum'' was a collection of small portraits of poets mounted on plates that were kept in a

curiosity cabinet 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 ...

by the 18th-century Dutch painter

Arnoud van Halen Arnoud van Halen (1673, Amsterdam – 1732, Amsterdam), was an 18th-century painter from the Dutch Republic. Biography According to Houbraken he painted Christoffel Pierson's portrait for his Panpoeticon Batavum (cabinet of poets), which ...

History of the collection

Van Halen began assembling his collection around 1700 by painting

miniature portrait A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...

s himself that he copied from engravings. For contemporary poets he enlisted the help of friends and colleagues. Before he died, Van Halen managed to collect 346 portraits. Currently, 80 of them are part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Van Halen's cabinet was very popular, and consequently several books mentioned it or had it as a subject. These books included '' Schouburgh'' by

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...

. Houbraken claimed that the cabinet held portraits of over 100 people (Houbraken was writing in 1712).Arnoud van Halen's "Kabinet" mentioned
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature

History of the book

The most notable book was published by the man who purchased this collection after Van Halen died in 1732, Michiel de Roode. De Roode published the book in 1773 as a member of Leiden's

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

‘Kunst wordt door arbeid verkreegen’ (art is accomplished by work) which paid for the edition. That the book was popular is attested by the fact that in 1808 the Teyler's Stichting gave

Wybrand Hendriks Wybrand Hendriks (June 24, 1744, Amsterdam – January 28, 1831, Haarlem) was a Dutch painter, primarily known for his portraits, and the concierge of the Teylers Museum. Biography Wybrand Hendriks was born in a sculptor family, as the son of t ...

the request to purchase it for up to 500 guilders at auction, and Hendriks bought it for 200 guilders.Teylers Museum
File:Arnoud van Halen - titlepage Pan Poeticon 1773.jpg, Title page of the book published by ‘Kunst wordt door arbeid verkreegen’ in 1773 File:Arnoud van Halen - Samuel Ampzing - after Jonas Suyderhoef after Frans Hals.jpg, Portrait of

Samuel Ampzing Samuel Ampzing (24 June 1590 – 29 July 1632) was a Dutch minister, poet and purist. Biography Born to the minister Johannes Ampzing in Haarlem, in 1616 Samuel became a minister himself at Rijsoord in Strevelshoek, and in 1619 at the Si ...

after an engraving by Jonas Suyderhoef after a portrait by

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

An incomplete list of poet portraits:

References

Pan Poëticon Batavum
on

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

with list of names
Pan Poëticon Batavum
by Lambert Bidloo in the DBNL {{Authority control 1773 non-fiction books Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Dutch paintings Portrait art Books about the visual arts Illustrated books