A complete set of 16 numbered views of the magnificent buildings, gardens, and woods of Cornelis de Jonge van Ellemeet's "Duinrel" estate near Wassenaar. Like the other great Dutch estates of the 17th century, it included gardens, fountains, mazes, and pavilions, but it is distinguished from the others by its extensive woods, uncultivated land, and its location at the edge of the sand dunes near the coast. This silvan flavour is also reflected in the emphasis on the Greco-Roman goddess Diana in the decoration, which is visible on some of the prints.
This suite of prints was published as part of the series Paradisus oculorum, sive conspectus elegantissimi centum (1702) by Pieter Schenk I (1660-1711), together with print series of The Loo, Dieren, Voorst, Rosendael, and the "Praetorium" of the Swedish King. The six parts were also issued separately with the dedications to the owners serving as title-pages, as is the case here. When Ellemeet (1646-1721), Procurer General for the Dutch Republic, bought the estate in 1680, much of it was still wild land and dunes. In the next two decades, he turned it into the lavish wooded estate shown in the present engravings. While many great estates of the time appeared in different print series over the years, this was not the case for Duinrel. As it was demolished in 1968, the various views by Schenk are nearly the only surviving images of it. The present set is watermarked Strasbourg Bend = IV (similar to Heawood 73 & 78, from ca. 1720), so it may have been published by Pieter Schenk II (1693-1775) soon after his father's death.
The leaves are slightly foxed. Otherwise a fine and wide-margined copy of a historically important series of prints of the Duinrel estate. The Anglo-Dutch Garden 76; Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) XXV, p. 228, 1234-1258; Springer Bibl. Overzicht, pp. 43-44; STCN 304477761 (4 copies); Wurzbach II, p. 576, no. 311.