Natuurlijke historie van het rundvee in Holland

A sequel to the extensive work Natuurlijke historie van Holland by the physician Johannes Le Francq van Berkheij appeared in the early nineteenth century: Natuurlijke historie van het rundvee in Holland. This work, which would appear in parts over several years, provides the reader with a comprehensive picture of Dutch cattle breeding and the importance of the cow to the Netherlands.

Berkheij's idea about natural history

Initially, Johannes Le Francq van Berkheij (1729-1812) manifested himself as a poet and playwright, and he continued to do so with many implacable satirical poems and funeral songs. Meanwhile, he enrolled at the University of Leiden as a ‘master painter’ and obtained his doctorate there in 1761 with a medical dissertation. He established himself as a physician and began writing the work for which he would remain known: Natuurlijke historie van Holland. Under ‘natural history’, he grouped animals, plants, minerals, astronomy, and geography. The book appeared in installments between 1768 (dated 1769) and 1778 and was also published in German and French translations. This work earned him a lectureship in natural history at Leiden University. The volumes cover the course of the rivers, the climate, soil types, minerals, animal species, the character and clothing of the inhabitants, daily life, livestock farming – but after horse breeding is discussed, the project stalls. The sequel on cattle takes a quarter of a century to appear.

Berkheij's research relies, among other things, on his own collection of drawings, of which he was, moreover, often the creator himself. Political developments do not leave his life untouched; in the struggle between the Patriots and the Orangists in the 1780s, he ardently sides with the House of Orange. His views frequently get him into trouble, and after several costly lawsuits in the 1780s, he is forced to sell his collection of drawings (which ends up in Spain). When the Batavian Revolution is proclaimed by the Patriots in 1795, Berkheij's role changes definitively. In fact, he no longer works for the university, but his salary, although meager, continues to be paid for a long time.

More and much more about cattle

From shortly before 1800, he wrote the sequel to his Natuurlijke historie, which appeared between 1805 and 1811: Natuurlijke historie van het rundvee in Holland. Consequently, the character of his natural history as a whole changes, for while the earlier parts cover many subjects, the final installments (parts 4.2 through 5) deal exclusively with cattle. However, everything related to them is covered: entrails, fertilization, diseases, medicines, the layout of farms and stables, and the techniques of land cultivation.

The largest fold-out plate in the first volume is titled: ‘Sex calculation to determine at a glance how many cattle can reproduce from a mother cow and father bull in ten consecutive years […]’. The calculation (which takes up fifty pages in the book) shows that a single cow can produce 143 offspring in ten years, under ideal conditions. 

The plate is signed in the lower left by the draftsman, who is the author himself (‘F.L. Francq van Berkhey inv.’), and in the lower right by the engraver: ‘N.v.d. Meer Junior fecit’. The same applies to the other plates in this volume (although the second surname has been shortened to ‘M.’). It concerns the highly regarded Noach van der Meer Jr. (1741-1822), who was also a pupil of Berkheij. Van der Meer engraved, among other things, topographical prints of Leiden and Paramaribo, architectural drawings such as those of Felix Meritus, and historical prints, such as those of the Patriot era in Amsterdam; but he also provided illustrations for books, such as the title page for Het boek der psalmen (1773), and thus also the prints for this cattle encyclopedia.

The importance of the cow to the Netherlands is evident in this plate, illustrated and colored with portraits of cows and scenes from the farm. At the bottom left and right, a poem celebrates the fertility of the cow: an ode to the cow, the cow as a saint. The colorful versions of this print can only be described as festive.