POWER of the PORTRAIT: Production, Consumption and Display of Portraits of Amalia Van Solms in the Dutch Republic
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POWER OF THE PORTRAIT: Production, Consumption and Display of Portraits of Amalia van Solms In the Dutch Republic by Saskia Beranek B.A., Pennsylvania State University, 2001 M.A., Duke University, 2003 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2013 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Saskia Beranek It was defended on March 29, 2013 and approved by Jennifer Waldron, Associate Professor, English Joshua Ellenbogen, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture Stephanie Dickey, Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen's University, Art Co-Advisor: C. Drew Armstrong, Associate Professor and Director of Architectural Studies Dissertation Advisor: Ann Sutherland Harris, Professor Emerita, History of Art and Architecture ii Copyright © by Saskia Beranek 2013 iii POWER OF THE PORTRAIT: Production, Consumption and Display of Portraits of Amalia van Solms in the Dutch Republic Saskia Beranek, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2013 Portraits of Amalia van Solms, wife of Frederik Hendrik of Orange-Nassau and one of the most significant women in the Dutch Republic, were widely circulated and displayed during her lifetime (1602-1675). This study focuses on cases where specific audiences and sites of display can be isolated. When portraits can be viewed in their original context, they speak not only to those elements intrinsic to the image such as symbolism or fashion, but also to issues extrinsic to the image: social practices, cultural ideals, and individual identities. The meaning of a portrait depends as much on with whom it was intended to communicate as on whom it portrayed. Building on recent scholarship which established Amalia as a significant art patron, this dissertation focuses on her use of portraiture and how she chose to present herself to a variety of audiences. Portraits circulated ideas about the House of Orange in general and Amalia in particular during the Dutch war for independence. In public, they promoted a specific notion of elite identity to publics as varied as a bankrupt employee of an Amsterdam almshouse and the King of England. In more restricted environments, they structured the more private experience of the visitor to Orange palaces and speak to the type of relationship between viewer and viewed. At Honselaarsdjik, public spaces like galleries held formal portraits, but in restricted and elite spaces, the image of the resident changed in relation to audience. At Huis ten Bosch, the idea of the portrait is expanded beyond the edges of a canvas. Though the study of the Oranjezaal has generally focused on the deceased Frederik Hendrik, by considering the site as an integrated whole Huis ten Bosch is reframed as a portrait of Amalia: a living, large scale embodiment of lineage, triumph, and memory. This dissertation proposes a broader approach to portraiture that extends beyond physiognomic likeness and views architecture and audience as fundamental elements in the representation of identity. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................. XII 1.0 PORTRAITS IN THE DUTCH REPUBLIC ............................................................ 1 1.1 THE POSSIBILITIES OF PORTRAITURE .................................................... 6 1.2 THE LIFE OF AMALIA VAN SOLMS AS A SITE FOR CRITICAL INQUIRY ............................................................................................................................ 12 1.3 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 29 2.0 PORTRAITS OF AMALIA VAN SOLMS ............................................................. 33 2.1 COST AND MATERIALS ................................................................................ 35 2.2 THE PORTRAITS: FASHION AND FUNCTION ........................................ 39 3.0 THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF AMALIA VAN SOLMS ............................................. 82 3.1 INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE ................................................................... 85 3.2 EXCHANGE OF PORTRAITS BETWEEN WOMEN ................................. 90 3.3 ELITE CIRCLES IN THE HAGUE ................................................................ 94 3.4 EMPLOYEES OF THE COURT ................................................................... 101 3.5 THE PUBLIC REALM: AMSTERDAM CASE STUDIES ........................ 107 3.6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 118 4.0 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IDENTITIES IN ORANGE PALACES .................... 120 v 4.1 PORTRAITS IN THE PALACES OF FREDERIK HENDRIK AND AMALIA VAN SOLMS ................................................................................................... 123 4.2 PORTRAITS AT THE BINNENHOF AND NOORDEINDE..................... 128 4.3 HUIS TER NIEUBURCH AT RIJSWIJK .................................................... 133 4.4 HONSELAARSDIJK ...................................................................................... 135 4.4.1 Site Specific Portrait Display at Honselaarsdijk ...................................... 137 4.4.2 Et in Batavia Ego: Pastoral Portraiture as Political Allegory ................. 141 4.4.3 Arcadian Rhetoric in the Dutch Republic ................................................. 142 4.4.4 Il Pastor Fido in Text and Image ................................................................ 145 4.4.5 The Woman in Orange ................................................................................ 148 4.5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 157 5.0 THE DUTCH GARDEN: NAVIGATING TRIUMPH AT HUIS TEN BOSCH 159 5.1 LITERATURE ................................................................................................. 162 5.2 AGENDA OF THE CURRENT WORK ....................................................... 176 5.3 VISUAL RECORDS OF POST’S DESIGN .................................................. 180 5.4 NAVIGATING THE HOUSE ........................................................................ 182 5.4.1 Amalia’s Apartment .................................................................................... 190 5.4.2 The Oranjezaal ............................................................................................ 200 5.5 NAVIGATING THE GARDEN ..................................................................... 210 6.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 222 CATALOG OF THE KNOWN PORTRAITS OF AMALIA VAN SOLMS ...................... 227 OWNERSHIP OF PORTRAITS OF AMALIA VAN SOLMS IN AMSTERDAM INVENTORIES......................................................................................................................... 264 vi FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... 273 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 307 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATED FIGURES 1.1: Willem Jacobsz. Delff, Portrait of Amalia van Solms. Engraving, 424 mm x 298 mm. 1626. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. RP-P-1898-A-20693 .......................................273 1.2: Willem Jacobsz Delff, Portrait of Prince Frederik Hendrik. Engraving, 418 mm x 295 mm. 1624. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. RP-P-1898-A-20686 .......................................273 1.3: studio of Gerard van Honthorst, Portrait of Elizabeth of Bohemia. Oil on Panel, 667 mm x 546 mm. ca. 1642. National Portrait Gallery, London. Inv. NPG 511 ..................................274 1.4. Gerard van Honthorst, Frederick V, King of Bohemia. Oil on canvas, 737 mm x 572 mm. 1635. National Portrait Gallery, London. Inv. NPG 1973 ......................................................274 2.4: Anonymous, miniature portrait of Amalia van Solms. 4.7 cm x 3.8 cm. ca. 1647-1650. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. inv. SK-A-4437 .........................................................275 2.5: Lucas II Vorsterman, after Jacques van Werden: Turnhout Celebre Taxandriae Municipium. 39.5 cm x 54.5 cm, map. 1659. AN1323044001 © The Trustees of the British Museum ....275 2.9: Jan van Vliet, Amalia van Solms, 3/4 length with a fan. 22.1 cm x 15.7 cm, print. 1634. AN1057767001. © The Trustees of the British Museum ........................................................276 2.14: Michiel van Mierevelt, Portrait of Maurits, Prince of Orange. Oil on panel, 220.3 cm x 143.5 cm. ca. 1613-1620. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. inv. SK-A-255 ................277 2.21 Michiel van Mierevelt, Portrait of Aegje Hasselaer, wife of Hendrick Hooft. 1640. Oil on panel, 69.7cm × 60cm. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. inv. SK-A-1251 ....................278 2.24 Willem Outgersz Akersloot;A. van de Venne, inv.: Amalia of Solms with William and Louise Henriette in front of the Binnenhof. 1628. Engraving, 20.9 cm x 16.4 cm. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, RP-P-BI-33 ....................................................................................279 2.25 Crispijn van de Passe II,: Veroveringen van den Bosch en Wezel. 1629-30. 26.8 cm x 20.5 cm. engraving.