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UID:537@1718.ucla.edu
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260424T130000
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DTSTAMP:20260319T052403Z
URL:https://1718.ucla.edu/events/gagnon_karmiole/
SUMMARY:Johan Nieuhof’s Batavia
DESCRIPTION:Lecture by Emma Gagnon\, Ph.D. Candidate in Art History\, Unive
 rsity of California\, Santa Barbara. Recipient of the 2025-26 Kenneth Karm
 iole Graduate Research Fellowship\n\nThe Dutch East India Company (Vereeni
 gde Oostindische Compagnie\, or VOC) made significant strides towards esta
 blishing colonial control over the Indonesian islands in the seventeenth c
 entury. When the Company founded Batavia in 1619\, the city became the adm
 inistrative hub of an extensive mercantile network and served as its Asian
  headquarters. As the nerve center of the VOC’s governance and commerce 
 in the region\, Batavia was designed according to Dutch city-planning prin
 ciples\, with features such as its gridded plan\, canal network\, and arch
 itectural details consciously evoking cities of the Dutch Republic. Motiva
 ted by both a lively market for information about the spice trade and curi
 osity about the wider world and its inhabitants\, Dutch publishing houses 
 produced a profusion of printed matter about Asia\, which was championed\,
  directly or indirectly\, by the VOC. These publications aimed to bring As
 ian landscapes and their peoples out of the realm of the unknown\, transfo
 rming them into recognizable forms for the seventeenth-century Dutch reade
 r. This talk examines the images of Batavia in Johan Nieuhof’s (1618-167
 2) illustrated travelogues. A career merchant in the Dutch chartered compa
 nies\, Nieuhof spent years in and out of the colonial capital\, and his ac
 counts provide some of the earliest images of Batavia. This talk demonstra
 tes how the city’s Dutch identity was defined not only by its built envi
 ronment but also through the dissemination of these forms in the Dutch Rep
 ublic’s print culture. In considering the visual culture of Batavia\, a 
 disconnect can be identified between the city’s architectural record and
  the images circulating among European audiences. The engravings produced 
 in the Dutch Republic tended to exaggerate Dutch forms in their depictions
  of Batavia\, which contributed to the establishment of the city's identit
 y as Dutch\, reinforcing the VOC as its administrator\, inflating the Comp
 any’s control over the region\, and projecting an image of a dominant Du
 tch population in the East Indies.\n\nEmma Gagnon is a Ph.D. candidate in 
 the History of Art and Architecture Department at the University of Califo
 rnia\, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation\, “Picturing Indonesia in the Dut
 ch Republic: The Printed Images of Johan Nieuhof's ‘Sea and Land Voyage\
 , through various Regions of the East Indies\,’” examines how Nieuhof
 ’s account of Batavia used visual and textual tropes to exaggerate VOC c
 ontrol over the city and its non-European inhabitants. In addition to the 
 generosity of the Karmiole Graduate Research Fellowship at the Clark\, the
  Scaliger Institute\, Newberry Library\, the Bancroft Library\, the Harry 
 Ransom Center\, and the Getty Research Institute have supported her resear
 ch.\n\n\n\nThe lecture will take place via Zoom. To register to attend\, p
 lease fill out the form here \n\n\n\nImage: (detail) “The Castle of Bat
 avia” from Johannes Nieuhof (1669) An Embassy from the East-India Compan
 y of the United Provinces\, to the Grand Tartar Cham\, Emperour of China\,
  Delivered by Their Excellcies Peter de Goyer and Jacob de Keyzer\, at His
  Imperial City of Peking. [...] Translated by John Ogilby. Printed for the
  author by J. Macock in London. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks.\n\n&nbsp\;
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CATEGORIES:Lectures
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