At once a collector, amateur botanist, avid reader, amateur artist, and patron, Agnes Block is best described as a cultural producer. In her research, Catherine Powell seeks to write the still largely obscure Block and her contributions into the art and cultural history of the Dutch seventeenth-century, and to highlight the need for and the potential of a multi-faceted approach to the research of early modern women. Examining Block’s achievements, her relationships, and her objects reveals a woman who was independent, knowledgeable, self-aware, and not above engaging in self-promotion. Though her gender meant fewer opportunities than for men and many barriers, Agnes Block succeeded in fashioned herself as Flora Batava, a liefhebber at the intersection of art and science.

Botanical philosopher Norbert Peeters (University of Leiden) will respond to Catherine Powell’s research.

Catherine Powell’s upcoming book on Agnes Block will be published later this year by AUP. It will appear in the Book Series: Studies in Early Modernity in the Netherlands, which is a collaboration between AUP and the Amsterdam Centre for Studies in Early Modernity.

Feike Dietz, chair of its editorial board of the book series, will reflect on renaming the successful book series, which has over 30 titles to its name, and present some plans for its future.