Many dozens of faces of members of the House of Orange-Nassau adorn the walls of the Royal Palace Amsterdam. The oldest portrait from around 1550 shows Anna van Egmond, the first wife of Willem I ‘the Silent’. The most recent is the inauguration portrait of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima from 2013. The portraits from the Royal Collection provide an overview of the members of the Orange Dynasty through the years. From equestrian and formal portraits to family and children’s portraits, these are no spontaneous ‘snapshots’ but carefully thought-out scenes full of symbolism, in keeping with a long tradition of the royal portrait. The exhibition and the accompanying catalogue focus on the different portrait genres that can be seen in the Royal Palace Amsterdam, whereby the function and the corresponding representative and symbolic characteristics of the royal portrait hold a central position.
genres
