Johann Christoph Volkamer

Bergamot fruit. Illustration from Nürnbergische Hesperides

Johann Christoph Volkamer (born June 7, 1644 , † August 26, 1720 ) was a German merchant, manufacturer and botanist .

Life

Johann Christoph Volkamer (also: Volcamer , Volckamer , Volkammer ) was the son of the doctor Johann Georg Volkamer . He was passionate about botany and maintained a garden in what is now the Nuremberg district of Gostenhof . From 1708–1714 he published a two-volume work on citrus fruits under the title “Nürnbergische Hesperides, or a thorough description of the noble citronate, lemons, and pomerantzen fruits, how such, in the same and neighboring area, can be used, maintained, preserved and transported away , Including a detailed narration of most of the varieties, some of which were actually grown at Nuremberg, some of which were brought there from various foreign places ... "

In Volkamer's time, citrus fruits were seen as the "golden apples of the Hesperides " in Greek mythology. From the late 17th century, it became fashionable at European royal courts to cultivate citrus plants in orangeries . The trees, which were expensive and coveted due to the transport across the Alps, developed into symbols of status and power.

With this work, the term "Hesperides" became a symbol for the flourishing Nuremberg garden culture, which lasted from around 1650 to the end of the 18th century.

In both volumes (a third did not go beyond the preliminary stages) of Volkamer's book, the detailed illustrations of various types and varieties of citrus plants including their fruits are combined with depictions of Nuremberg landscapes and gardens, as well as vedute of numerous Italian cities and gardens. Volkamer's work, with its high-quality copperplate engravings and detailed travel reports, is an important contemporary historical source.

In 1720 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

The Volkamer lemon Citrus volkameriana V. Ten. & Pasq. is named in his honor.

His grave is in the Johannisfriedhof in Nuremberg.

Works

• Nürnbergische Hesperides, Or a thorough description of the noble citronate, lemon and Pomerantzen fruits ... , Nuremberg 1708, reprint Zirndorf 1978. With flora, or curious presentation of various rare flowers ... and other books.
  Latin translation 1713.
• Obeliscus Constantinopolitanus or brief explanation of the Obelisci standing in Constantinopol on the racing track, but now also in the Nuremberg suburb of Gostenhof, carved and erected , Nuremberg 1713, reprint Arndt Nuremberg 1985.
• Continuation of the Nuremberg Hesperidum, or a further thorough description of the noble Citronat, Lemon and Pomerantzen fruits, with a detailed report on how they can best be maintained and preserved; Where did those varieties come from, partly grown in Nuremberg, partly from different foreign places ... , Nuremberg 1714.

literature

• Wilhelm Schwemmer: Johann Christoph Volkamer , in: Nuremberg figures from nine centuries , Nuremberg 1950, 135-139.
• Helge Weingärtner: Nuremberg vedute in JC Volkamer's Hesperidenwerk , master's thesis University of Erlangen 1990.
• Christian Jörg Zink: A masterpiece of garden art. The garden of the Volkamer family , in: Katrin Bielefeldt, u. a .: Gostenhof , Muggenhof , Eberhardshof and Kleinweidenmühle . History of a district (Nuremberg district books 9, published by Geschichte Für Alle eV), Nuremberg 2005, 44–49.
• Michael Diefenbacher : Volkamer, Johann Christoph . In: Michael Diefenbacher, Rudolf Endres (Hrsg.): Stadtlexikon Nürnberg . 2nd, improved edition. W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2000, ISBN 3-921590-69-8 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Johann Christoph Volkamer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Johann Christoph Volkamer in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member entry by Johann Christoph Volkamer at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 18, 2016.