Holland and Belgium in Spring: A River Cruise at Tulip Time

Mariska Beekenkamp-Wladimiroff was a student at the University of Amsterdam considering a PhD in psychology when she decided instead to return to her true love: the arts. She went on to earn a master’s in art history while raising three children, studying 17th-century Dutch baroque art at the Courtauld Institute of Arts in London. Early on in her career, she served as a college lecturer, but soon afterwards set up her own company offering art history lectures, courses, tours, and events in Amsterdam, London, New York, and online. 

Mariska has lectured all over the world for numerous organizations, including the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies, the New York Adventure Club, and the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. She has served as visiting lecturer for the London Art History Society, Orleans House Gallery, friends of the Putney School of Art, The Law Society Art Group, the Anglo-Dutch Society, and numerous museums. 

Barbara J. Whitehead is the A. W. Crandall Professor of History at DePauw University and former chair of the history department. She earned her BA in history at Harvard University and her PhD from Bryn Mawr College. This educational background fostered a love of early modern Europe that has been the focus of her teaching and writing for over thirty years. At DePauw, Barbara has developed a broad spectrum of courses centered on European history ranging from the Viking Age and Crusades to the European witch hunts, the French Revolution, and the history of happiness. Her research in intellectual history has led to an edited volume on early modern women’s education and publications on forgotten figures of the 18th-century Enlightenment.

In addition to leading more than 15 academic tours of Europe, Barbara has served as the on-site director of the American Colleges of the Midwest Central European Studies Program in the Czech Republic, where she taught European history. She also taught in the Danish International Studies Program in Copenhagen as a visiting professor. In addition to living in the Czech Republic and Denmark, Barbara has also lived in Rome and Paris.

Catherine Scallen is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emerita in the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, where she taught from 1995 to 2022, offering courses on art in France, Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries from 1400 to 1800. Her earlier scholarship focused on the art of the Dutch painter and printmaker Rembrandt van Rijn, including the importance of Italian Renaissance art as a model for his own work. Catherine has recently published on the role of art dealers in shaping major American collections at the turn of the 20th century through promoting the sale of Italian and Dutch paintings. She produced two courses for The Great Courses, Art of the Northern Renaissance and Museum Masterpieces: The National Gallery, London; and has lectured at museums and universities across the United States. A regular faculty participant in CWRU’s Senior Scholars adult education program, Catherine has offered numerous courses that complement special exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art. As a seasoned traveler to western Europe, she has served as a faculty lecturer for groups from Princeton University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and CWRU.

Dr. Maarten Christenhusz is a Dutch botanist, artist, and author known for his groundbreaking work on plant diversity and classification. As the principal author of the influential encyclopedia Plants of the World and a lead scientist in the international Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, his research has helped shape how we understand and conserve the world’s flora. He is especially interested in the interaction between humans and plants and has worked extensively on the history and evolution of tulips, ferns, orchids, and many other plant groups.

Maarten completed a PhD on Caribbean flora at the University of Turku, Finland, where he taught graduate classes on plant diversity. He also curated the collections of the Helsinki Botanical Garden before moving to Great Britain in 2009. He first worked at the Natural History Museum in London, followed by projects at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; the University of Western Australia; and the Linnean Society of London. He now lives in North Wales where he works as a consultant for a variety of projects in the U.K. and the Netherlands. He serves as scientific advisor to the Hortus botanicus in Delft and is currently studying the evolution and development of garden tulips.

Maarten has traveled extensively—from the Amazon to the Australian Outback—in search of unusual plants to understand the foundation of botanical evolution. His contributions extend from discovering and describing new plant species to sharing his passion for natural history through expeditions, presentations, books he has authored, photography, and art. When he is not gardening or traveling, he likes to draw and paint, and he can often be found sketching a flower or a landscape.

Valerie Hedquist is a professor of art history at the University of Montana. She earned her PhD with honors at the University of Kansas and has been teaching and writing for nearly 30 years. Her research focuses on the arts of the 17th and 18th centuries and includes articles on the religious paintings of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Of special interest is the influence of Italian cultural attitudes on the visual output of these Dutch artists and others. Her book on the changing reception and meaning of Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy was published in summer 2019.

Mary O'Neill is an art historian and art appraiser based in Washington, D.C. She lectures on various aspects of art history in locations around the world, such as Art Basel in Miami, the Chautauqua Institute in New York, and dozens of international cities for Smithsonian Journeys. Mary has published articles in several national publications, including a cover story for Smithsonian magazine, “Virtue and Beauty: The Renaissance Image of the Ideal Woman.”

Tim Richardson is a leading historian of gardens, art, architecture, and food and the author of more than 25 acclaimed books, including Great Gardens of America, The English Landscape Garden, and Sweets: A History of Candy. After studying English literature at Oxford, Tim began his career at Country Life magazine, where he became the gardens editor and theater critic for 23 years. He went on to write for a wide range of publications, as a long-time columnist for the Daily Telegraph, landscape editor for Wallpaper,* and contributor to Literary Review and the Financial Times. He is currently art critic at The Idler magazine.   

Tim is known for his witty and sometimes irreverent style; a collection of his garden journalism was entitled You Should Have Been Here Last Week, because, he says, that is what garden owners always seem to say. This mischievous spirit led him to found the Chelsea Fringe Festival in 2012—as an adjunct to the famous Chelsea Flower Show but with an emphasis on community gardening and artistic happenings. It has been the platform for more than 2,500 events in some 22 countries. Tim volunteers as an advisor to the National Trust in the United Kingdom and works as a consultant on historic gardens and houses.  

As a visiting professor at Vienna University for several years, Tim taught landscape art—and enjoyed the cafes and cakes! He now teaches a master’s course in landscape history at London University; and wrote an online course on the topic that is taught at Oxford University's continuing education department. Tim lives in London and Devon with his wife, Claire, and enjoys competing in the sport of fencing.