Het aanbieden van het Smeekschrift aan de hertogin van Parma, 1566 1752 - 1822

Noach van der Meer II made this print depicting ‘The Presentation of the Petition to the Duchess of Parma, 1566’. The scene is an appeal by Dutch nobles to the Habsburg rulers of the Netherlands, a key event in the lead-up to the Eighty Years’ War of Dutch independence. The image creates meaning through the visual codes of power. We see the nobles in the foreground kneeling before the Duchess, who is seated on a throne-like chair, thus emphasizing her authority. Light falls on the Duchess, while those presenting the petition are cloaked in shadow. Compositionally, the artist suggests the nobles occupy a space both inside and outside the institution of power. The building in which they meet is divided between the gothic interior and the open door to the outside world, referencing how the nobles were both part of the court and in opposition to it. To understand this print, we can consult archives documenting the political and religious tensions in the 16th-century Netherlands. The meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.