consulted with the architect Leendert Viervant to have special showcases for the most striking
minerals incorporated into the flat-top cabinet at the centre of the Oval Room.
Another example is provided by the way the total sum van Marum was provided with for
geological specimens in London in 1790 was broken down: out of the total amount of f2300,-,
f300,- were earmarked “to be spent on the purchase of Fossils still missing in the Systematic
Arrangement of the Fossils presently made in the Musaeum”, and the remaining f2000,- was
earmarked to be spent on some outstandingly beautiful Pieces which would be an adornment
of the Collection of Fossils”.105
Similarly, in 1798 van Marum chose to arrange all the samples of fluorspar from England and
Saxony in the collection in two pyramid-shaped showcases.106 Although the design of the
showcases was by no means unusual during this period, their shape apparently did not serve
any scientific function.107
Almost ironically, minerals’ aesthetic qualities could also prove to be a hindrance to their
systematic study. In 1802 van Marum for instance explained to the trustees why he had to
travel to Switzerland personally in pursuit of a certain class of minerals he needed:
“The minerals and the pieces which are most instructive in this respect, are mostly less
pleasing to the eye of superficial observers. They are therefore not supplied by the Dealers in
minerals, and they can therefore only be obtained by ordering from the places where they are
to be found.”108
Finally, perhaps the single most important decision of van Marum’s concerning the mineral
collection’s display in the Oval Room was made in the aftermath of his journey to
Switzerland: in order to allow for an adequate arrangement of the entire mineral collection, he
had showcases constructed that covered the flat-top cabinet at the centre of the room.109 As a
result, the emphasis in the Oval Room shifted towards the visual, and away from the
experimental. Put simply, this meant people now came to the Oval Room to “look at things”,
whereas if they wanted to handle an instrument or perform an experiment they would have
gone to the adjacent laboratory.
he besteeden tot aankoop van Fossilia nog ontbreekende aan de Systhematische Schikkinge der Fossilia thans
in het Musaeum gemaakt”; “te besteden aan eenige uitmuntend schooner Stukken welke tot cieraad der
Verzamelinge van Fossilia können strekken”; “Directienotulen”, 18.06.1790, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 5.
W. Nieuwenkamp, ‘T h e Geological Sciences,” vol. 3, Martinus van Marum: Life & Work (Haarlem: Tjeenk
Willink & Zoon, 1971), 210.
Similar showcases can be seen on depictions o f other 181*1 century cabinets. See for example the depiction of
Johann Christoph Richter’s Museum in Leipzig, made in 1743 for Johannes Ernst Hebenstreit's Museum
Richterianum, reproduced in: Friedrich Klemm, Geschichte der naturwissenschaftlichen und technischen
Museen, vol. 2, Deutsches Museum: Abhandlungen und Berichte 41 (München: Oldenbourg Verlag, 1973), 37.
“De delfstoffen en stukken die ten deeze opzichte het leerzaamste zijn, zijn grootdeels minder behaaglijk voor
het oog van oppervlakkige beschouwers. Zij worden deswegens door de Handelaars in delfstoffen niet
aangebracht, en zijn dus niet te bekomen, dan door ze te ontbreden [unreadable: ontbieden?] van de plaatsen
waar zij gevonden worden.” “Geologische Leszen bij Teylers Stichting 1798-1803”, 14.11.1800, Haarlem, NHA,
Archief van Marum, vol. 529, nr. 6.
109 Martinus van Marum: “De Geschiedenis van de oprigting van Teyler’s Museum”, 1823-1833, Haarlem,
NHA, Archief van Marum, vol. 529, nr. 9, fol. 94-95.
This is of course a slight oversimplification: the items from the geological collections were
still “handled”. In fact, handling them was necessary if they were to be analysed or compared.
What’s more, the primary purpose of the collection and its arrangement was scientific
research. Nevertheless, they now had their fixed places in showcases, and the installation of
these showcases also meant that the only flat surface in the Oval Room - a prerequisite for
any serious experimenting - had disappeared.110
At the same time, van Marum was voicing his intentions of making the geological collections
more widely accessible. In his introductory remarks to a lecture before the trustees in
November 1802, he stated that he wanted to tell them more about
“what is being collected by me for this Foundation, in order that these collections, which, as
they increase in perfection, I will try to open to general inspection more and more, may serve
all the more to give superficial spectators the opportunity to extend their insights into the
works of the Creation.”1 1
He reiterated these intentions some months later, in March 1803, saying that his aim was “to
expose [the specimens] more and more to inspection and to provide them with proper labels”,
so that they could help demonstrate the beauty of Nature to “the Members of this Foundation
and further to anybody who asks admittance.112
17. No Happy End
Early in 1803, however, van Marum had a huge row with van Zeebergh. Only van Mamm’s
account of the disagreement has been preserved. He describes it as originating from an
“unexpected change” of Zeebergh’s “way of thinking”. More specifically, the trustee declined
to provide more funds for the expansion of the geological collection in the aftermath of van
Marum’s journey to Switzerland. This shattered van Mamm’s plans for the future and put him
in an awkward position, as he had just devised plans for a final major expansion of the
collections to complete them, and appears to have announced to Wemer in Freiburg that he
was going to purchase a large amount of items from the famous geologist’s collection^
prematurely, as it now turned out. Van Marum describes how he desperately tried to change
110 Julia Noordegraaf has previously pointed out that the installation o f these showcases constituted a watershed
in the history o f Teylers Museum. However, she does not pay heed to the mineral collection’s scientific function
in her assessment. Julia Noordegraaf, Strategies o f Display: Museum Presentation in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-
century Visual Culture (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2004), 9-10.
111 “het geen door mij bij deeze Stichting verzameld wordt, ten einde deeze verzamelingen, die ik meer en meer,
naarmaate zij in volkomenheid toeneemen zal, ter algemeene beschouwing tracht opentestellen des te meer
dienen mögen om om aan [unredable short word: men?] oppervlakkige beschouwers geleegenheid te geeven
hunne inzichten in de werken der Schepping uittebreiden.” “Geologische Leszen bij Teylers Stichting“,
19.11.1802, Haarlem, NHA, Archief van Marum, vol. 529, nr. 6.
112 “[de stukken] meer en meer ter beschouwing bloot te stellen, en van behoorlijke bijschriften te voorzien”; “de
Leeden deezer Stichting en wijders een iegelijk die hier voor den toegang vraagt”. “Geologische Leszen bij
Teylers Stichting“, 25.03.1803, Haarlem, NHA, Archief van Marum, vol. 529, nr. 6.