Magdalena Poulle (1632-1699) turned to collecting exotic plants after the death of her second husband, merchant Adriaen Daem. In 1680 she bought the ruin Gunterstein in Breukelen and had the house rebuilt. She concentrated on the garden and built up a collection with an international reputation.
The orangery that she had built in the garden was equipped with two greenhouses on the outside at the ends. Fireplaces used to heat the greenhouses were outside the structures. Since the greenhouses of Gunterstein were on an elevation, it is plausible that the heat here was spread via pipes under the floor of the greenhouses.
Magdalena Poulle was one of the first private collectors to have a modern greenhouse with which plants could survive the cold Dutch winters. It is said that the greenhouses of Gunterstein have been a model for the tropical greenhouse of the 'Chelsea Physic Garden' in London.
Magdalena Poulle's Oranjerie at Gunterstein
Magdalena Poulle was active in circles of other large plant collectors and landscapers. Her family relationships and extensive network including politicians, traders and contacts from the circle of Stadholder William of Orange. She was in contact with Agneta or Agnes Block (1629-1704) who had already started collecting plants ten years earlier & lived nearby at Vijverhof in Nieuwersluis.
Magdalena Poulle's Gunterstein
The profound interest in exotic plants during the late 17C is shown not only through the example of the Amsterdam merchant widow Magdalena Poulle, but also by the importance of networks by which it was possible to built up a collection of exotic plants.
Magdalena Poulle was active in circles of other large plant collectors and landscapers. Her family relationships and extensive network including politicians, traders and contacts from the circle of Stadholder William of Orange. She was in contact with Agneta or Agnes Block (1629-1704) who had already started collecting plants ten years earlier & lived nearby at Vijverhof in Nieuwersluis.
The profound interest in exotic plants during the late 17C is shown not only through the example of the Amsterdam merchant widow Magdalena Poulle, but also by the importance of networks by which it was possible to built up a collection of exotic plants.
Because of her family ties, Poulle had close links with other important botanical collectors in the Dutch Republic, among which was her second cousin, Jan Commelin. As commissioner of the Hortus Medicus in Amsterdam, he had many contacts with important botanists such as Paul Hermann at Leiden as well as connections with networks in England.
Commelin played an important part in the development of the new technical innovation of the tropical hothouse in 1684, in which it was possible to grow tropical plants. Soon after its development, the hothouse became a necessary status symbol and could be found in the gardens of other botanical collectors in the Republic, such as the one built by Poulle.
In the 5 years after 1680, when she became the owner of the ruin Gunterstein, Poulle built not only house and gardens, but also formed one of the most remarkable collections of plants in the Dutch Republic, thus earning her fame at both home and abroad with gardeners and botanists alike.
Magdalena Poulle's Garden Plan
