4 - Becoming Flora Batava

Summary

Abstract: This chapter investigates the evolution of Agnes Block’s self-fashioning at the intersection of art and science through her involvement with Vijverhof. While presenting herself as a knowledgeable amateur botanist was important from the outset, an examination of portraits of Block (and of a portrait medal of her) reveals a woman for whom the importance of her identification as a wife and stepgrandmother changed overtime, culminating in her personification as Flora Batava. Block presented to the world an identity that was at once deeply personal and, arguably, inextricable from that of the Dutch Republic.

Keywords: gender and self-fashioning; intersection of art and science; botanical iconography; display and self-promotion

In 1700, Jan Boskam cast a portrait medal of Agnes Block (fig. 7). Her aged profile appears on the recto; on the verso, she is the personification of Flora Batava: the goddess of flowers of the ancient Batavians, mythical ancestors of the Dutch. Standing tall in front of her country estate Vijverhof, Flora Batava stands for Block’s fame and reputation as an amateur botanist and horticulturist and, arguably, for the achievements of the Republic. This personalization as Flora Batava was the culmination of an extensive and evolutive process of self-fashioning. This exercise in self-fashioning was not an accident; presenting herself to the world as a significant figure at the intersection of art and science was the result of careful curating on Block’s part. Notwithstanding the absence of ego documents such as diaries or personal letters, it is nevertheless possible to trace Block’s agency in fashioning herself as Flora Batava and substantiate this conclusion, thanks to the visual evidence she left us.

While she engaged in self-fashioning from the moment she acquired Vijverhof, the public persona Block fashioned changed over time. As we saw in chapters 1 through 3, becoming known as a knowledgeable amateur botanist and presenting herself as such was important from the outset. The importance of the other attributes of her life ebbed and flowed over time. In the self-fashioning that took place over approximately three decades, the agency of a knowledgeable woman with a clear eye cast toward her posterity emerges, culminating in an identity that was at once deeply personal and inextricable from that of the Dutch Republic.

Self-Fashioning Through Portraits

Three surviving portraits document the arc of Block’s self-representation over time.