Portret van Frederik Hendrik 1683 - 1783

This red chalk drawing depicts Frederik Hendrik, a stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and it is housed here at the Rijksmuseum. The Dutch Republic, a relatively new nation in the 17th century, was unique for its time. It was a confederation of self-governing provinces rather than a monarchy, and it had a relatively tolerant intellectual environment. The regents of the Republic took pride in their lack of royal court, with its hierarchical systems of patronage, and a burgeoning art market meant that artists did not have to rely on commissions. The lack of information about the artist here could be a relic of that time. Despite this context, the image of Frederik Hendrik, a powerful military leader, recalls that of a Roman emperor. The drawing acts almost as propaganda for a more centralized state. To fully understand such an image, we need to engage with the wider social, economic, and political currents of the time.