Paper short abstract:

The early modern greenhouse was a cultural center as well as an agricultural and horticultural space. This paper explores early manifestations of botanical conservatories in which far-off landscapes and climates could be brought near: for pleasure, to mark social status, and/or for scientific study.

Paper long abstract:

In the Renaissance, growing exotic fruits such as oranges was reserved for the wealthy who could afford to shelter their citrus trees in orangeries. These large outbuildings were either fitted with wooden shutters that opened during the day or with glass doors that faced south to protect trees from winter cold. As "orangeries" became more elaborate buildings with glass-ceilings and heating systems, plant conservatories further displayed wealth and influence. The influx of plant specimens collected on voyages beginning in the fifteenth century through the colonial explorations of the nineteenth-century steamers spurred the study of live plants in European centers such as Paris, London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Vienna. Greenhouses in India, the West Indies, and North American likewise were built to grow, study, and appreciate a wide diversity of temperate, tropical, desert, and alpine plants. These conservatories were influential in locating Europe and North America as centralizing metropoles against a plethora of supposedly peripheral places. Greenhouses and conservatories revealed the growing importance of colonial possessions and offered a physical space in which to contemplate a more intimate sense of global colonial power and connection. Through the lens of the greenhouse, one can trace networks of exchange that illuminate the development of an increasingly diverse and interconnected natural world. This paper begins with an examination of Olivier de Serres’ Le Théâtre d'agriculture et mesnage des champs (1605) and draws on other texts, images, and archival records, to examine the role of greenhouses in plant exchanges and colonial imaginations before 1700.