National Library Acquires Rare Botanical Work by Dutch Female Artist
Plate 'Amherstia Nobilis Wall' from Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de l'ile de java by Berthe Hoola van Nooten (3rd ed. 1880)
Plate 'Nephelium Lappaceum' from Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de l'ile de java by Berthe Hoola van Nooten (3rd ed. 1880)
The Library recently acquired a copy of the 3rd edition of Fleurs fruits et feuillages choisis de l’ile de Java published in 1880 by Dutch female botanical artist, Berthe Hoola van Nooten.
The book contains 40 chromolithographed plates, which display in brilliant colour the tropical splendour of the fruits and flowers commonly found in Java in the mid 19th century. The plants included cover a range of indigenous and introduced species of shrubs, flowering trees and plants with edible fruits. Each plate is accompanied by a description of the plants and their culinary, medical and other uses in French and English.
The plates, which were printed in Belgium by P.Depannemaeker, have been described as one of the finest examples of chromolithography, a relatively new technique when the book was first published. The striking and vibrant illustrations amply demonstrate van Nooten’s artistic skill. As one reference work most aptly notes: ‘She manages to accentuate the splendour of each species by adopting a style that combined great precision and clarity with a touch of neo-Baroque exuberance, revelling in the rich forms and colours of the tropics.’ (Oak Spring Flora, 87).
The book was acquired from Daphne van Nooten, whose late husband was the artist’s great great nephew. Details of Berthe Hoola van Nooten’s life are scarce. However, it is known that she was born in Utrecht, Holland in 1817 and married Dirk Hoola van Nooten in 1838. After their marriage, the couple travelled to Paramaribo in the Dutch colony of Suriname in South America, where Dirk Hoola van Nooten worked as a judge. Berthe often travelled between Suriname and Batavia (now Jakarta) with her husband and it was during these travels that her interest in botanical plants and painting grew. She even sent cultivated plants back to botanical gardens in Holland.
When her husband died in 1847, the widowed Berthe was left with heavy financial debts and five children to raise. Unable to pay for her passage back to the Netherlands, she decided to take advantage of her enforced exile in Java. Aware of the popularity of exotic flora in Europe, and putting to use her skill of flower painting that she had acquired as a girl, she started painting watercolours of Javanese plants to clear her debts. After returning home, she tried unsuccessfully to publish her watercolours. It was only through the intervention and eventual patronage of the Queen Consort of the Netherlands, Mathilde-Sophie, who strongly supported the arts, that she was finally able to get a selection of her paintings chromolithographed and published in 1863–64.
Despite three editions of the work being published during her lifetime, Berthe Hoola van Nooten died in poverty in Batavia in 1892. Today, the Hoola van Nooten family name is held in high esteem in the Netherlands. It is registered in Het Nederland's Patriciaat, which lists significant Dutch families who have played an active and important role in Dutch society for over six generations, or 150 years.
Published some 16 years after the first edition, the 1880 edition held by the Library is regarded as an improved edition. Only two other Australian libraries hold this work: State Library of Victoria (1863 ed.) and the University of Melbourne (3rd ed.). In acquiring this publication, the Library has gained another wonderful example of the work of 19th century female artists which will complement those relating to Australia already held in the collection
Meredith Batten and Vera Dunn
Overseas Collection Development



