Relations and networks

In the course of an expedition or during its preparation, in the event of congresses or exhibitions, Jean Linden makes frequent contacts with pan-European scientific, political, and economical circles. However, today, the documents testifying of these privileged relations are not accessible to the public, or are simply missing. We could imagine that many people with whom Jean Linden enjoyed these privileged relations have left some correspondence, invoices or other official documents containing useful information in their records, which would allow us to identify the nature of their relations better.

Amongst the many questions that are still unanswered, we will note, amongst others:

• Benjamin Mary, [amateur] watercolorist and Belgian diplomat in office in Rio de Janeiro at the time of the first expedition.
• In Mexico, the Sartorius family, owners of the El Mirado hacienda, or still, their hosts in Teapa, where the former governor of the state of Tabasco welcomed Linden.
• Carl Theodor Hartweg, a German botanist and explorer, who unexpectedly met Linden in both Mexico and Columbia.
• The Baron Alexander von Humboldt, who meets Linden in Paris, and gives him instructions relating to his third expedition. What could we learn from that meeting?
  
• Ferdiand Bellermann, German painter in charge of documenting New-Grenada. Linden meets him in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.
• The Vollmer family, who is today still very much involved in Venezuela’s highest economy, and who welcomed the explorer in their Hacienda El Palmar in the course of his third expedition.
• The El Tocuyo estate in Venezuela, and how Linden became the owner.
• Professor Edouard von Regel, state councillor in Russia, director of the St. Petersburg botanical gardens, with whom Linden enjoyed a large correspondence (not located to date).
• Heinrich Reichenbach son, an eminent Viennese botanist with whom Linden collaborated for his publications and on several congresses.
• Montpellier’s Professor Planchon, with whom Linden enjoyed scientific contacts well beyond his expeditions.
• The Marquis della Valle di Casanova, whose lands in Pallanza (Italy) welcomed Jean Linden’s cultivations for some time.
• José Triana, the famous Colombian botanist, exploration companion of Louis-Joseph Schlim
  
• Finally, how can we trace the missing parts of Nicolas Funck’s tales? Do they still exist? What has become of the drawings of plants and animals? Should we try finding them in Brussels, in Luxembourg, or in Cologne?

Official records could still shed some light on the first Brazilian expedition or could relate to the "more diplomatic" mission conducted in Mexico. Several aspects, such as Linden’s choice of university, his appointment to the post of Scientific Director at the Parc Léopold, or still, his involvement in the Société linnéeenne et de Flore or exhibitions in the Cercle artistique et littéraire, are still blurry. Furthermore, we have still not found an explanation to the mysterious disappearance of the portraits of Jean Linden and his wife that were painted by their son Gaston and offered to the Jardin botanique national de Belgique.