THE FAMILY VAN LOON
OK, let's come clean. To quote from the biog. at the back of Introducing
Media Studies (words by Zia Sardar, Illustrations/design by Borin
Van
Loon): "... Van Loon was born on an East Anglian mountainside as Queen
Elizabeth II assumed the throne. His grandfather remade history in
Eindhoven
by enrolling in an English as a Foreign Language class ..." It's in
print, so it must be true. Originally, the family Van Loon lived in
Loon
op Zand, near 's Hertogenbosch, in the south of the Netherlands - the
birth
place of Anthonizoon Van Aken (better known as Hieronymous Bosch), so
we
Van Loons wander through The Garden Of Earthly Delights, and no
mistake.
At the end of the sixteenth century the Van Loons moved to Amsterdam to
flee the Spanish occupation. Throughout the centuries, they would come
to
fulfil important administrative functions. Willem Van Loon, for
example,
was the co-founder of the Dutch East-India Company, in 1602. Borin is
really
sorry about that and is doing his best to atone. Several members of the
family were mayors of the city of Amsterdam. In the beginning of the
nineteenth
century, the patrician Van Loon family was raised to the nobility. So
what's
the use of that, eh? No enoblement for Borin. Hah! I mean just a few
gilder
would come in handy, but as we said, he 'atones' in search of
redemption,
honour, dignity and humbleness. He continues to defend and look after
his
twin sister, Claire de Loon due to her unfortunate predilections during
a full moon.
The Van Loon coat of arms consists of three crossties, that symbolize
the
watermill that was property of the family in the Middle Ages, and two
Moors'
busts, that most probably stand for the part the family played in
founding
the Dutch East-India Company. And we're really, really sorry about all
that
colonial stuff, OK? Then there's the Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam: bet
they
haven't got even one tiny example of poor Borin's work on display, eh?
They
don't 'phone, they don't write ...
Warning: some typographical inexactitudes may have crept into
the
above text.
Email from John Van Loon (20.11.04)
Borin vL- Greetings!
Perused your page re: the vL family roots several times now. You
mention
Loon op Zand among other places and thus have inspired me to create a
little
piece of complementary art. In another life, when I earned a living, I
was employed as a technical illustrator, generating mostly line
drawings.
While much of my stuff was pretty complicated, I think the simplest
drawings
I did were the most eloquent when it came to bearing a message. What
I've
sent you then is a map tracing my part of the vL family origins from
some
alluvial Netherlandic river basins to the Americas and back. I'm
pleased
as how it turned out so I thought I'd share it. I make things like this
to include in a collection of family memorabilia that I distribute to
my
kinder.
Alas, it's coming to the end of another year in this millennium.
Wish
you and yours the best of whatever is to come.
jvl
Thanks to John for sending this fine piece of work.
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Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon