An Arcadian apparatus: the introduction of the steam engine into the Dutch landscape

In 1767 the wealthy Dutch banker John Hope purchased Groenendaal, a country estate situated south of Haarlem, east of the coastal dunes, and near a number of other estates owned by urban oligarchs who sought to overlay their commercial roots with the trappings of aristocratic gentility (fig. 1). Groenendaal covered seventy-four hectares and included a gardener's residence, coach houses, stables, greenhouses, and cold frames for exotic plants. Stylistically, the grounds of the estate were in transition from formal gardens to the naturalism of an English landscape park.