Princes Maurice and Frederick Henry at the Valkenburg Horse Fair, Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne, 1618 – (Adriaen Pietersz Van De Venne) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Adriaen Pietersz Van De Venne

Date: 1618

Size: 54 x 134 cm

Technique: Oil On Panel

The setting of this painting was long thought to be a kermis in Rijswijk, and was only later recognized as being the horse fair at Valkenburg, a small village north of The Hague.10 The subject is the visit to the fair of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik, who are clearly recognizable in the open carriage drawn by six greys. Their retinue consists of two closed carriages, each drawn by four brown horses, accompanied by horsemen and several pages on foot. One of the riders is making a levade towards a distinguished looking couple in the right foreground, whom Pelinck persuasively identified as Johan de Hertoghe van Orsmael and his wife Josyna de Beye.11 In 1615, De Hertoghe van Orsmael had bought the manor of Valkenburg and had forged a strong bond with the village, and even accepted payment so that the horse fair could continue to be held there.12 In addition, he was in Maurits’s service. In 1618, when he had himself portrayed in this painting, he was Quartermaster-General of the States army.13 Given this background, it is only natural that De Hertoghe van Orsmael should allow Van de Venne to portray him as a sort of host of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik. The faithful depiction of the Valkenburg horse fair combined with portraits of the couple indicate that Van de Venne travelled to Valkenburg for the commission. His reputation as a painter had evidently spread beyond Middelburg by 1618, and this is confirmed by the state portraits of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik that were published as prints that same year. In 1619, the States-General ordered 25 impressions of them on satin.14 The frieze-like format, meticulous execution and ambitious design with numerous figures and a wealth of secondary details are in the same mould as Van de Venne’s Fishing for Souls (SK-A-447) of 1614 and, above all, The Departure of a Dignitary from Middelburg of 1615 (SK-A-1775). As in the latter work, the wealthy burghers and dignitaries are shown cheek by jowl with the simple villagers, who have even been brought to the foreground and thus play a more prominent role in the composition. The style is a little looser than in the two earlier works, and the relationships between the groups of figures are more successful. There are more anecdotal details, such as the peasants brawling in the left background and the woman running a stall in the right foreground, who is being robbed by a boy. This is an example of the comical and moralistic tone that is such a feature of Van de Venne’s later works. Westermann has put forward an unconvincing argument that these motifs appear to justify the imposition of centralized order by the Republic’s leaders, making The Valkenburg Horse Fair patriotic in nature.15 The still life of shells in the right foreground is an unrealistic element in an otherwise naturalistic scene. Variants of this shell still life are found in Fishing for Souls and The Departure of a Dignitary from Middelburg, and can be regarded as the artist’s personal mark. In his later paintings these carefully elaborated still lifes were replaced by the motif of three mussels.16 In Braunschweig there is a drawing which is generally regarded as a preliminary study for the small group of horsemen in the left foreground (fig. a).17 However, there are arguments for the drawing being made after the painting, and not the other way round. In the painting there is a pentimento by the forelegs of the foremost horse of which there is no trace in the drawing, which follows the painted surface precisely.18 Also missing in the drawing is the little dog that the leading rider is looking at in the painting, with the result that his downward gaze in the drawing loses its point. Finally, the fall of light in the painting is followed precisely in the drawing. The purpose of the drawing appears to have been more to reuse the motif of the mounted group in other works, as in the case of the horseman in the album ’tLants Sterckte (The land’s fortress and strength) of 1626.19 Although not followed literally, the portrait studies of Maurits and Frederik Hendrik painted on paper (SK-A-1776) could have served as models for their portraits in The Valkenburg Horse Fair. Keyes rightly observed that Van de Venne’s Horse Fair was a model for Prince Maurits and Frederik Hendrik at the Rijswijk Horse Fair by Esaias van de Velde, who probably saw it in De Hertoghe van Orsmael’s collection.20 Yvette Bruijnen, 2007 See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 294.