Nicolaes Witsen

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Nicolaes Witsen
Amsterdam, Netherlands
DiedSeptember 10, 1717(1717-09-10) (aged 76)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Burial placeEgmond aan den Hoef, England
OccupationStatesman

Nicolaes Witsen (8 May 1641 – 10 August 1717;

cartographer, maritime writer, and an authority on shipbuilding. His books on the subject are important sources on Dutch shipbuilding in the 17th century. Furthermore, he was an expert on Russian affairs. He was the first to describe Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia in his study Noord en Oost Tartarye [North and East Tartary].[1]

Early life

Nicolaes Witsen was born in

Patriarch Nikon and made notes on the worship of icons, interested in his name saint (and patron saint of Amsterdam), saint Nicholas. He studied law at Leiden University,[3] but became more interested in languages and maps. In the 1666–1667 Witsen travelled to Rome and met with Cosimo III de' Medici in Pisa. In Paris, he met the scientist Melchisédech Thévenot.[4] In 1668 he travelled to Oxford
. In 1674 he married Catherina Hochepied. Four children were born, not surviving childhood.

Shipbuilding

Witsen wrote "Aeloude and hedendaegsche Scheepsbouw en Bestier" in 1671, which quickly became seen as the standard work on the subject. Even an

anatomist Frederik Ruysch.[6]

Cartography

Map of Tartary (Land of the Tartars)

After 20 years' study, Witsen published the first map of

Sahkalin
in 1643, and it was never seen again.

Mayor and Maecenas

In 1688, Witsen was visited and invited more than once to discuss William III's proposed crossing to England, but he had great doubts and did not know what to advise. William Bentinck called him the most sensitive man in the world.[8] Of the other three burgomasters – Jean Appelman (a merchant trading with France), Johannes Hudde and Cornelis Geelvinck – Geelvinck openly opposed the enterprise and Appelman was not trusted by the prince and thus was not informed. After the crossing went ahead, Witsen went to London in the next year to find a way of meeting the costs of 7,301,322 guilders the city of Amsterdam had incurred in supporting it. William offered to knight him as a baronet, but the modest Witsen refused.[9]

Already in his youth Witsen started to collect Siberian curiosities and artworks, gathering corals, lacquer, books, paintings, weapons, porcelain, insects, seashells, stuffed animals and precious stones into his house on Herengracht on the Golden Bend. As mayor, he was a patron of the arts and sciences and maintained contacts with German scholars, such as Leibniz. He corresponded with Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, discovering tiny creatures under his microscope. In 1698 Willem de Vlamingh offered him two seashells from New Holland (Australia) and Witsen offered the drawings to Martin Lister.[10] Witsen, who had invested in the journey, was disappointed that the men had been more interested in setting up trade than in exploring.[11]

Witsen tried to introduce

Caspar Commelin, Professor of Botany at the Athenaeum Illustre and working in the Hortus Botanicus.[3] After Commelin's death, they were passed to Johannes Burman, inspiring him to produce Rariorum africanarum plantarum in 1738-9. On Burman's death in 1779, his effects passed to his son, Nicolaas Laurens Burman. After his death in 1793, his effects, including the Codex, were sold by auction in 1800, disappearing from the records. Witsen had contact with the painter Jan de Bray over a plan to improve the city's water supply, and helped the artist Cornelis de Bruijn, who needed contacts in Egypt and Russia – indeed, it was probably Witsen who encouraged De Bruijn to make drawings of Persepolis, to show to the Royal Society.[13]

The earliest known depiction of a Siberian shaman, produced by the Dutch explorer Nicolaes Witsen, who authored an account of his travels among Samoyedic- and Tungusic-speaking peoples in 1692. Witsen labelled the illustration as a "Priest of the Devil" and gave this figure clawed feet to highlight his demonic qualities.[14]

46 people dedicated books to Witsen, including several by

Maria Sybilla Merian to publish her prints with plants and insects from Surinam
.

Witsen was also interested in religion but in an ecumenical way: his interests stretched to "saint Confucius" as he called him (based on his analysis of a Han dynasty Chinese mirror in his collection), as well as to shamanism.[16] The minister famous for attacking witch-hunts, Balthasar Bekker, was his friend.

Witsen died in

Moscovy
could be published.

Works

  • N. Witsen, Moskovische Reyse 1664–1665. Journaal en Aentekeningen (Ed. Th.J.G. Locher and P. de Buck) ('s-Gravenhage, 1966; Transl.: Nikolaas Vitsen, Puteshestvie v Moskoviiu 1664–1665, St. Petersburg, 1996)
  • N. Witsen, Aeloude en hedendaegsche scheepsbouw en bestier (1671)
  • N. Witsen, Architectura navalis et regimen nauticum (second edition, 1690)
  • N. Witsen, Noord en Oost Tartarye, Ofte Bondig Ontwerp Van eenig dier Landen en Volken Welke voormaels bekent zijn geweest. Beneffens verscheide tot noch toe onbekende, en meest nooit voorheen beschreve Tartersche en Nabuurige Gewesten, Landstreeken, Steden, Rivieren, en Plaetzen, in de Noorder en Oosterlykste Gedeelten Van Asia En Europa Verdeelt in twee Stukken, Met der zelviger Land-kaerten: mitsgaders, onderscheide Afbeeldingen van Steden, Drachten, enz. Zedert naeuwkeurig onderzoek van veele Jaren, door eigen ondervondinge ontworpen, beschreven, geteekent, en in 't licht gegeven (Amsterdam MDCCV. First print: Amsterdam, 1692; Second edition: Amsterdam, 1705. Reprint in 1785)

See also:

  • Gerald Groenewald, 'To Leibniz, from Dorha: A Khoi prayer in the Republic of Letters', Itinerario 28-1 (2004) 29–48
  • Willemijn van Noord & Thijs Weststeijn, 'The Global Trajectory of Nicolaas Witsen's Chinese Mirror', The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 63-4 (2015) 324–361
  • Marion Peters, De wijze koopman. Het wereldwijde onderzoek van Nicolaes Witsen (1641–1717), burgemeester en VOC-bewindhebber van Amsterdam (Amsterdam 2010) [Transl.: "Mercator Sapiens. The Worldwide Investigations of Nicolaes Witsen, Amsterdam Mayor and Boardmember of the East India Company"]
  • Marion Peters, 'Nicolaes Witsen and Gijsbert Cuper. Two seventeenth-century Burgomasters and their Gordian Knot', Lias 16-1 (1989) 111–151
  • Marion Peters, 'From the study of Nicolaes Witsen (1641–1717). His Life with Books and Manuscripts', Lias 21-1 (1994) 1–49
  • Marion Peters, 'Nepotisme, patronage en boekdedicaties bij Nicolaes Witsen (1641–1717), burgemeester en VOC-bewindhebber van Amsterdam', Lias 25-1 (1998) 83–134

See also

  • Hunmin Jeongeum
  • Sakha language
  • Anna Maria Sibylla Merian

References

  1. ^ The Witsen Project.
  2. ^ Gebhard Jr, J.F. (1881) Het leven van Mr Nicolaes Cornelisz. Witsen.
  3. ^
    OCLC 8591273
    .
  4. ^ ПУТЕШЕСТВИЕ В МОСКОВИЮ НИКОЛААСА ВИТСЕНА
  5. ^ Hoving, A.J. (1994) Nicolaes Witsens Scheeps-Bouw-Konst Open Gestelt, p. 28.
  6. ^ Driessen, J. (1996) Tsaar Peter de Grote en zijn Amsterdamse vrienden. In cooperation with Amsterdams Historisch Museum, p. 40.
  7. ^ Graaf, T. de, & B. Naarden. 2007. Description of the Border Areas of Russia with Japan and Their Inhabitants in Witsen's North and East Tartary. In: Acta Slavica Iaponica 24, pp. 205–220. For the article see this link Archived 10 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ When Witsen was invited for the first time to see the prince, Witsen started to cry and fell on his knees, according to his personal archive, but could not refuse. In: Kok, J. (1744) Vaderlands Woordenboek, p. 251.
  9. ^ Kok, J. (1744) Vaderlands Woordenboek, p. 251-2.
  10. ^ Smit, P & A.P.M. Sanders & J.P.F. van der Veen (1986) Hendrik Engel's Alphabetical List of Dutch Zoological Canbinets and Menageries, p. 306.
  11. ^ Heeres, J.E. (1899) The part borne by the Dutch in the discovery of Australia 1606–1765, p. XVI, 83.
  12. ^ South African Botanical Art – Marion Arnold et al. (Fernwood Press, 2001)
  13. ^ Sancisi-Weerdenburg, H. (1998) Cornelis de Bruijn, Voyages from Rome to Jerusalem and from Moscow to Batavia, p. 45. Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam.
  14. ^ Hutton 2001. p. 32.
  15. ^ "NEPOTISME, PATRONAGE EN BOEKOPDRACHTEN BIJ NICOLAES WITSEN (1641–1717)".
  16. doi:10.52476/trb.9835
    .
  17. ^ MARION H. PETERS (1994) FROM THE STUDY OF NICOLAES WITSEN (1641-1717). HIS LIFE WITH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS. in: Lias. Sources and documents relating to the early modern history of ideas. 21 / 1, pp.1-49
  18. ^ MARION H. PETERS (1994) FROM THE STUDY OF NICOLAES WITSEN (1641-1717). HIS LIFE WITH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS. in: Lias. Sources and documents relating to the early modern history of ideas. 21 / 1, p. 27
  19. ^ http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/retroboeken/witsen/dutch_intro.pdf [bare URL PDF]

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