Description:
Framed stump work picture depicting a young man wearing a short cape and holding his plumed hat in one hand and a walking stick in the other and a young woman woman holding out flowers in her left hand as they face towards each other, both surrounded by a large variety of small images including a leopard, dog, deer, rabbit, bird, snails, grasshopper, dragonfly. butterflies, caterpillars, and flowers done in polychrome silk embroidery on a cream-colored satin-weave silk ground. The man's image is based on an etching of William II of Orange-Nassau (1626-1650) by Wenzel Hollar (1607-1677), which is titled "The Portraiture of the Most Illustrious & Noble William of Nassau Prince of Orange, etc.: borne 1627 & married 27 May 1641 / Are to be Sold, by Tho. Lenner at the old Exchange." Václav Hollar, known in England as Wenceslaus or Wenceslas and in Germany as Wenzel Hollar, was a Bohemian etcher, who lived in England for much of his life. Born in Prague, he moved to London in 1737 where he died and is buried at St Margaret's Church, Westminster. In 1802, William Richardson (active 1777-1814) published a similar image of William II of Orange-Nassau, an example of which is now in the collection of the English National Portrait Gallery. William Richardson was a bookseller, printseller, auctioneer, and artist associated with 386 portraits. In 1641, William II married Mary Henrietta Stuart, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau (1631-1660), the eldest daughter of King Charles I (1600-1649) of England, Scotland and Ireland. Their son became King William III (1650-1702) of England in 1689. The woman's figure is probably that of Mary Henrietta Stuart, and the images taken from a currently unidentified portrait.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1576 |
