Global Narratives and Knowledge Production in the Collection of Nicolaes Witsen

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... Mehr ...