Natuurkundige beschryving eener uitmuntende verzameling van zeldsaame gedierten

Vosmaers Natuurkundige beschryving introduced the Dutch public in the second half of the eighteenth century to the appearance and behavior of rare exotic animals in a unique way. Because the author and the designer had access to William V's collection of living animals, this work contains observations and lifelike illustrations of animal species that were little known in the Netherlands at that time. bracht het Nederlandse publiek in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw op een bijzondere manier in aanraking met het uiterlijk en het gedrag van zeldzame exotische dieren. Doordat de auteur en de ontwerper toegang hadden tot de levende dierencollectie van Willem V bevat dit werk observaties en natuurgetrouwe afbeeldingen van diersoorten die op dat moment weinig bekend waren in Nederland.

An exotic menagerie near The Hague

In the second half of the eighteenth century, a remarkable collection of exotic animals was located on the Het Kleine Loo estate, near The Hague (now a stone's throw from Voorburg 't Loo station). On this estate, purchased by Stadtholder William IV, lay a royal menagerie, filled with animals donated by, among others, governors from the Dutch colonial territories.

During the Stadholdership of William V, this menagerie was further expanded and housed various mammals, birds, and snakes. From 1756, the menagerie and the natural history collection, the Cabinet of Natural History, were managed by the naturalist Arnout Vosmaer (1720-1799).

Vosmaer's publications

From 1766, Vosmaer published a series of separate editions, each dedicated to a particular animal species from the menagerie. In 1804, five years after Vosmaer's death, the 33 pieces that had been published separately over a period of approximately 20 years were brought together in an edition under the title Regnum Animale.

In these publications, the appearance and observed behavior of the animals were described, and the texts were accompanied by illustrations. The engravings were created by Simon Fokke and are based on designs by Aert Schouman. These engravings were subsequently hand-colored. Although the images were created while the animals lived in captivity, the animals are shown in their natural habitat.

Because Vosmaer had live specimens of the animals at his disposal at the menagerie, he was able to verify and supplement the observations of earlier researchers, who had often only observed the animals briefly in the wild. During a visit by William V to the menagerie, for example, a bird was released into a rattlesnake enclosure so that it could be established that its venom was fatal to this animal after 10 minutes.

Most of the animals in the menagerie died relatively quickly. Vosmaer suspected that the long journey to the Netherlands and the poor food along the way were the main causes for many of the animals. After their death, many of the animals were taxidermied and added to the cabinet of natural history of William V.