My research in the field of early modern natural history – after many years spent in the domain of historical crime and punishment – started in the early 1990s and was triggered by ‘meeting’ Adriaen Coenen, a sixteenth-century Dutchman whose marvellous illustrated manuscripts on marine life continue to fascinate me. The humble Coenen was a contemporary of one of the most famous naturalists of the period, Carolus Clusius. They had some acquaintances in common and both spent the last years of their lives in Leiden, though not in the same period. It is thanks to Coenen that I became interested in Clusius and his world, and decided to focus – if I ever would have the opportunity – not so much on Clusius himself but on the men and women, famous or not, who formed part of his world and of the history of natural history.

That opportunity came in 2005 thanks to a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research for the Clusius Project (2005–9), which was appropriately based at the Scaliger Institute of Leiden University; besides myself it comprised Professor Paul Hoftijzer and two PhD students, Esther van Gelder and Sylvia van Zanen. Shortly before the official start of the Clusius Project I moved to Rome, and was fortunate enough to find an apartment with a small garden.