Posted in 2015
Brendel flower models
The collection includes about 20 of the flower models made by Robert and Reinhold Brendel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The models are made from papier-mâché with other materials including plaster, glass beads, wood, cotton and rattan added to give detail or texture. They can be taken apart to reveal internal details (although they’re not always simple to put back together again). The Brendels were advised on the accuracy of their models by various Professors, depending on what the particular model was intended to show. As well as plants, models of fungi, yeast and bacteria were eventually included.
Dealers included the models in their own catalogues, but Delft has the only known surviving Brendel catalogue, issued in Berlin in 1913.
The Delft School of Microbiology Archives
The “Delft School of Microbiology” is based on the work of our first three biological Professors – Beijerinck, van Iterson and Kluyver. The Archive is a collection of their papers, teaching aids, furniture and other materials and functions as a small museum in the Department of Biotechnology.
At the moment, the collection is being digitised and catalogued. This blog will report on some of the interesting and sometimes unexpected things to be found in the collection.
We’ll also cast an occaisional glance at our honorary member, the original Delft microscopist and microbiologist, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.
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