Becoming Quite an Amsterdam Young Lady
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10 – Becoming quite an Amsterdam young lady BECOMING QUITE AN AMSTERDAM YOUNG LADY Pieternella was adjusting well to her new life Fig. 128: and according to her father would soon become ‘quite an Amsterdam young lady and very Interior of the New Church in Delft with the sharp’. Cheerfully but with an inkling of mausoleum of Prince Willem van Oranje, 1645. nostalgia, grandfather heard that she had Dirck van Deelen, canvas, 82.5 x 68.5 cm accompanied her parents to visit friends and Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, SK-A-2352. family. She had traveled to Leiden, Delft and The Hague, cities he knew well from his school days back in Rotterdam and his later student Fig. 127: period in Leiden. He could vividly imagine how Pieternella would also applaud the chiming of The well-to-do grain merchant Adolf Croeser and his the church bells from the Old Church in Delft daughter Catharina, 1655. which could be heard as far as Leiden, ‘three Jan Havicksz Steen, canvas, 74 x 110 cm. hours from there’. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, SK-A-4981. As a matter of course a visit to Delft included a visit to the mausoleums of two Croeser had himself portrayed, sitting on the bench in front of national heroes – Prince Willem van Oranje his house on the Oude Delft, a fashionable canal in the city of in the New Church and admiral Maarten Delft. In the background the spire of the Old Church can be Harpertsz Tromp in the Old Church. In seen. In 1655 young Willem van Outhoorn studied in Leiden, grandfather’s days, both monuments were not far from Delft, and from there could hear there the chiming brand new and he too walked around fully of the church bells. On one of his visits to Delft he admired the appreciating the monuments. Prince Willem’s brand new mausoleum of the famous Dutch admiral Maarten monument was completed in 1622 and quite Harpertsz Tromp in the Old Church, and that of Prince possibly grandfather had witnessed the William of Orange, which had been erected in the construction of Tromp’s tomb since it was not New Church in Delft. 143 To my dear Pieternelletje – Grandfather and granddaughter in VOC time, 1710-1720 completed until 1658, one year before Van Outhoorn left for Batavia. The monuments had quickly become places of interest and were visited by many. There were occasions however when grandfather reprimanded his granddaughter. One of these was after hearing complaints from her family that she rarely visited them. She should not retreat, but rather fulfill her social commitments otherwise she risks being seen as headstrong or shy. That would be unbecoming for a young lady. Such reticence apparently ran in the family because her father had also written that these visits were rather burdensome for his wife and himself, ‘as this was not in their nature’. To keep up one’s appearances and social network was as vital then as it is nowadays. Besides lending a hand to her stepmother with the housework, Pieternella was beginning to move about the pleasant circles of Amsterdam’s well-to-do. Most of them resided in one of the canal houses, preferably the fashionable Herengracht and possessed a country house where they would spend their summer months. Along the banks of the Amstel and Vecht, a chain of mansions with beautifully laid out pleasure gardens were being constructed. Here one could recuperate from the pressures of daily city life, spending time boating and drinking tea with candied fruits in the elegant summer houses located Fig. 129: near the riverside. This was not new to Pieternella as she was used to staying with Portrait of Jan Trip senior, 1715. her father at his Batavian country house After Jacob Lindenberg, engraving, 30.2 x 20.2 cm. Goenoengsari or joining him on visits to Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-1920-792. friends on one of the small islands in the Bay of Batavia. Pieternella’s father-in-law was portrayed in his capacity of burgomaster of Amsterdam. Pieternella’s accounts of her outings were read approvingly by her grandfather. As far as he was concerned she could come and go about freely and enjoy herself in the rural other newfangled activities which only led to estates of friends outside of Amsterdam during the loss of money and dissention. Just as many the summer. She might even stay on for more grandfathers stated before and after him, he than one day, without her parents. But then he ‘considered this harmful to young people’. reconsidered this last statement and thought Adding immediately that he was not referring this rather unwise. Instead he advised her to to the gatherings and visits with family ‘and decline these sorts of invitations. She could other decent company according to the old excuse herself by saying she was not yet Dutch demure, authorized way of life’. He was accustomed to being unaccompanied by her relieved to learn that Pieternella did not much parents for an entire day. She certainly should fancy these kinds of immoral activities. The refrain from visiting the Franse saletten, same held for her disinterest in attending French style gatherings, where groups of ‘comedy plays’, although some very decent and youngsters assembled and precious time was edifying theatrical plays were being staged. squandered playing cards, backgammon and 144.