Programma van de begrafenis van Frederik Hendrik, 1647 1647

This is a printed program of the funeral of Frederik Hendrik, produced in the Netherlands in 1647. It lists the order of procession, describing the elaborate display of banners, horses, and officers that marked the passage of the deceased Prince. Printed ephemera like this served an important social function. They were instruments of statecraft, creating a spectacle of authority and solidifying political power. The text creates meaning through symbolic language and cultural references familiar to its 17th-century Dutch readers. The choice of particular families and officers to participate was politically significant. Even the order in which they paraded mattered. Historians rely on documents such as these to reconstruct the political and social landscape of the past. By reading closely and researching the context, we can gain a deeper appreciation of art’s public role.