Levinus Vincent the Younger, (1658 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

– 8 November 1727 in Haarlem) was a rich Dutch designer of patterns and merchant of luxurious textiles, such as

damask Damask (; ar, دمشق) is a reversible patterned fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin ...

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

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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 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 agriculture (bul ...

, both

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

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

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

. 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 by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

and was involved in Danish Africa Company, together with

Hendrik Carloff Hendrik Carloff (died after 1677) was an adventurer active in the 17th century. Carloff began his career as a cabin boy but rose to become the Commander and Director of the Dutch West India Company. He later joined the Swedish Africa Company and ...

. 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 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 commander of the land ...

. 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 a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

(?) and his half brother in Angoulême. 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. Levinus owned a cabinet of curiosities, collected ''naturalia'' (with shells, insects, corals, birds, lizard and small mammals as wet preparations) and ''artificialia'' - ( ethnography, paintings and drawings of flowers). In 1709 he sold his house in Amsterdam accompanied by Ysbrand Vincent. In 1712

Bernard Picart Bernard Picart or Picard (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French draughtsman, engraver, and book illustrator in Amsterdam, who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits. Life Picart was born in rue Saint-Jacques, Paris as ...

married his niece Anna Vincent; the wedding was in Haarlem, where Levinus had settled around 1705. He corresponded with

James Petiver James Petiver (c. 1665 – c. 2 April 1718) 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 entom ...

and

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

. 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,

François Valentijn François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

and Albrecht von Haller.

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 Romeyn de Hooghe (bapt. 10 September 1645 – 10 June 1708) was a late Dutch Baroque painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist. Biography He was born in Amsterdam, and was a skilled etcher, draughtsman, painter, sculptor and medalis ...

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, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...

{{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