The art of living nobly: the patronage of Prince Fredrik Hendrik (1584-1647) at the palace of Honselaarsdijk during the Dutch Republic

Abstract

"As Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, and Stadhouder of the United Provinces, Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647) was the most visible, and powerful, nobleman during the heyday of the Dutch Republic in the early 17th century. In the history of Dutch collecting, as well, Frederik Hendrik's activities as a patron of art and architecture between 1612 and 1647 remain conspicuously unusual in style, function, and wide-ranging extent. Despite this prominence, Frederik Hendrik's patronage has received only sporadic attention from specialized historians since 1928. In this study, based on new archival research, the visual environment of Frederik Hendrik's first and favorite home, the huis Honselaarsdijk, is examined. A country retreat outside of The Hague, Honselaarsdijk provided Frederik Hendrik with a place to fully express his noble status and aristocratic heritage, outside the confines of his administrative position as Stadhouder. Constructed and improved continuously over the course of Frederik Hendrik's adult life, Honselaarsdijk introduced sophisticated international models for the visual arts, for aristocratic lifestyles, and for elite domestic settings into the predominantly republican Netherlands of the 17th century. By examining the evidence for the entire built environment of the palace (destroyed in 1815), including painting, sculpture, architecture, landscape and garden design, and decorative arts, a clearer picture of the thematic and decorative unity of the home is achieved. The use of such overt noble signifiers at this country retreat by the Prince and Stadhouder carried a significant social and political charge for its original audience. Rather than view Frederik Hendrik's patronage activities as an aristocratic aberration during the Dutch Republic, this study examines the evidence anew to construct a more accurate picture of the creation, operation, and effect of the Honselaarsdijk palace. Frederik Hendrik's lavish domestic environment emerges as not only artistically and conceptually innovative, but as an effective exemplar of noble life, a powerful argument for the Prince's political status, and a lasting influence on the artistic preferences and lifestyles of the Dutch regent class of the seventeenth century."-- Abstract (pages vi-vii).