Joan Huydecoper II
Encyclopedia
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
- 1 December 1704, Amsterdam) was the eldest son of burgomaster
Burgomaster
Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...
Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen I
Joan Huydecoper I
Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen took over the family tannery business and the trade in pelts and armaments. The name Huydecoper means literally 'buyer of pelts'. Huydecoper had a prosperous political career: first he was elected to the vroedschap of Amsterdam...
and the brother-in-law of the collector Jan J. Hinlopen and the sheriff Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel was an ambassador in France, sheriff and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1696. Between 1664 / 65 he travelled through Russia with his friend Nicolaes Witsen. In 1679 he became the ambassador in Paris...
. He was mayor of Amsterdam for 13 terms between 1673 and 1693. Unlike most mayors, he did not live at the Golden Bend
Gouden Bocht
The Gouden Bocht is the most prestigious part of Herengracht in Amsterdam, between Leidsestraat and Vijzelstraat.Until 1663 Herengracht reached as far as the present Leidsegracht. From that year on, the fortifications around Amsterdam were expanded, within Herengracht, Keizersgracht and...
, but on Lauriergracht in the Jordaan
Jordaan
The Jordaan is a district of the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The area is bordered by the Lijnbaansgracht canal to the west, the Prinsengracht to the east, the Brouwersgracht to the north and the Leidsegracht to the south...
, where Govaert Flinck, Johannes Lingelbach
Johannes Lingelbach
Johannes Lingelbach or Johann, , was a Dutch Golden Age painter, associated with the second generation of Bambocciate, a group of genre painters working in Rome from 1625 - 1700.-Biography:...
, Jurriaen Ovens, who painted his portrait, the art-dealer Gerrit van Uylenburgh
Gerrit van Uylenburgh
Gerrit van Uylenburgh , or Gerrit Uylenburgh, was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art-dealer. He was the eldest son of Hendrick van Uylenburgh and took over the family art-dealing business after Hendrick's death and burial in the Westerkerk church in 1661...
en Melchior de Hondecoeter also lived.
When Huydecoper left on the Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
in 1648 his father wanted to keep a firm grip on his 23-year-old son. He required him to be more studious, more thrifty, and demanded a complete list of names of the people with whom he associated. His father encouraged him to be thrifty and cut back on expenses. In 1655 he went with his father and Pieter de Graeff
Pieter de Graeff
Pieter de Graeff , was a member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age. He was an Amsterdam Regent during the late 1660s and the early 1670s, and held the titles as Lord of the semi-sovereign Fief Zuid-Polsbroek and 19.th Lord of the Free and high Fief Ilpendam and Purmerland...
on a diplomatic mission to the Prince-elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
Frederick William of Brandenburg. Back home Johan married his first cousin, Sophia Coymans, which tied another knot to that wealthy banker family. In 1660 he was invited twice by the Princess Royale
Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his queen, Henrietta Maria of France...
for dinner; in September he went to Scheveningen to see her leaving. In 1660 Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:...
and her daughters paid him a visit.
For years Huydecoper kept a diary, writing about his life, mentioning smoking his pipe, visiting his favourite tavern, the visitors and the many presents, the upbringing of the children, but also intimate details of his prurience, the quarrels and clashes with the family and in-laws.
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
. During the Year of Disaster
Rampjaar
The rampjaar was the year 1672 in Dutch history. In that year,the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was after the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War attacked by England, France, and the prince-electors Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster and Maximilian Henry of...
in 1672, when the office of stadholder was reinstated by the 21-year-old William III of Orange
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, Johan Huydecoper had the political tides on his side. He was aligned by marriage with the politically influential Gillis Valckenier
Gillis Valckenier
Gillis Valckenier was nine years burgomaster of Amsterdam: in 1665, 1666, 1668, 1670, 1673, 1674, 1676, 1678, 1679. He was a strong personality, but changing allies as a real opportunist....
, who jumped on the Orangist bandwagon in the summer of 1672. The year after he was appointed for the first time as a burgomaster
Burgomaster
Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...
. Huydecoper had himself painted by Jurriaen Ovens. Already in 1675 he had an argument with the stadholder. In December 1676 he skated from Maarssen
Maarssen
Maarssen is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht. It lies in an area called the Vechtstreek.On January 1, 2011 Maarssen merged with Breukelen and Loenen to Stichtse Vecht....
to Baambrugge
Baambrugge
Baambrugge is a town on the Angstel stream in the Dutch province of Utrecht.It is a part of the municipality of De Ronde Venen, and lies about 14 km southeast of Amsterdam.In 2001, the town of Baambrugge had 925 inhabitants...
and back. In 1679 he refused to ever visit his mother-in-law again for dinner on Sundays. He did visit Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in Delft, and looked through his microscope at tiny creatures. Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel was an ambassador in France, sheriff and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1696. Between 1664 / 65 he travelled through Russia with his friend Nicolaes Witsen. In 1679 he became the ambassador in Paris...
, his brother-in-law and the ambassador in Paris, was visited by two of his children.
Being an amateur botanist himself, he kept melon
Melon
thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...
s at his countryhouse in Maarssen along the river Vecht
Vecht
Vecht may refer to:* Vecht , a Rhine branch in the Netherlands from Utrecht to the Eemmeer near Muiden, sometimes called Utrechtse Vecht** Vechtstreek is the region along the above river Vecht...
. He received many plants, animals and birds from Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Ceylon, Ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
and Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, e.g. parakeet
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
s, parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s, flying lizard
Flying lizard
- Animal :Flying lizard can refer to species of lizard that move by gliding between trees. They are contained by Draco :*Draco blanfordii*Draco maculatus*Draco norvillii*Draco volans- Motor Racing :...
s and chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
s. Some of the paintings obtained from his brother-in-law Jan J. Hinlopen were presented to various members of the VOC. One of these, an unfinished painting by Simon de Vlieger
Simon de Vlieger
Simon de Vlieger was a Dutch designer, draughtsman, and painter, most famous for his marine paintings.-Life:...
of a brawny fisherman was given to Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel was the last Commander and first Governor of the Cape Colony, the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.-Background:...
, last Commander and first Governor of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa as a memento (herinnering). In 1681 he became a Councillor in the Admiralty of Amsterdam
Admiralty of Amsterdam
The Admiralty of Amsterdam was the largest of the five Dutch admiralties at the time of the Dutch Republic. The administration of the various Admiralties was strongly influenced by provincial interests...
. In 1682 Joan Huydecoper and Jan Commelin
Jan Commelin
Jan Commelin , also known as Jan Commelijn or Johannes Commelinus, was the son of Isaac Commelin a historian; his brother Casparus was a bookseller and newspaper publisher. Jan a botanist became a professor of botany when many plants were imported from the Cape and Ceylon and a new system had to be...
took the initiative in establishing a new Hortus Medicus
Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam)
Hortus Botanicus is a botanical garden in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. One of the oldest in the world, it is one of Amsterdam's major tourist attractions.- History:...
in Amsterdam. It differed from the herb garden at the Binnengasthuis insofar as it also grew ornamental plants and would function as a Hortus Botanicus. In 1689, the year after the Invitation to William
Invitation to William
The Invitation to William was a letter sent by seven notable Englishmen, later named the Immortal Seven, to William III, Prince of Orange, received by him on 30 June 1688...
Huydecoper refused to send recommendations for new appointments in the vroedschap
Vroedschap
The vroedschap was the name for the city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a vroedman, literally a "wise man"...
to the stadholder and in between King of England. In 1690 he, Nicolaes Witsen
Nicolaes Witsen
Nicolaas or Nicolaes Witsen was mayor of Amsterdam thirteen times, between 1682-1706. In 1693 he became administrator of the VOC. In 1689 he was extraordinary-ambassador to the English court, and became Fellow of the Royal Society. In his free time he was cartographer, maritime writer, and an...
and his brother-in-law Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel
Jacob Boreel was an ambassador in France, sheriff and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1696. Between 1664 / 65 he travelled through Russia with his friend Nicolaes Witsen. In 1679 he became the ambassador in Paris...
were involved in a case with Romeyn de Hooghe
Romeyn de Hooghe
Romeyn de Hooghe was an important and prolific late Dutch Baroque, painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist.-Biography:...
, accused of espionage, incest, sodomy and selling pornographic engravings.
On January 16, 1697 he and his nephew Jacob J. Hinlopen
Jacob J. Hinlopen
Jacob J. Hinlopen lived in a house with Hinlopen in the gable, now at 155 Nieuwendijk. He traded in cloth and Indian wares. In 1602 he was co-founder of the Dutch East India Company in Enkhuizen, his descendants inherited very old stocks. He also was the first person of Flemish origin, that in...
spent one evening with Peter the Great, who was more than 2,08 m tall. The czar was about to leave for England. When two huge glasses were filled, Huydecoper decided to leave, but was caught and brought back to the table. Huydecoper feared for his life, sitting between the czar and Franz Lefort
Franz Lefort
Franz Lefort was a Russian military figure of Swiss origin, general admiral , and close associate of Peter the Great....
.