When the corona crisis broke out, Máxima had to continue her work online. A real media room was soon set up at Paleis Huis ten Bosch. With beautiful art.
Let me take you to the palace first, so you know which room we are talking about. You enter Paleis Huis ten Bosch via the landing and the vestibule (1). If you turn left, you will come across the Blue Salon (2), the DNA room (3) and the king’s study (4). If you go straight ahead, you will arrive in the Oranjezaal (5). If you turn right, you will pass through the Chinese Room (6) and Japanese Room (7) in a room about which remarkably little is known. Through maps and on all kinds of websites I tried to find out what the former function was, but alas. (If you know, please let me know!) But I do know what is happening in room 8 today: it has become Máxima’s media room.
Seen from the rear:
Surrounded by beautiful paintings, the Queen performs her digital UN work here.
The three paintings behind the queen have given me a lot of research. Hundreds of ruins and travelers later, I still hadn’t found out who the maker was, but luckily Josephina de Fouw, curator of 18th-century painting at the Rijksmuseum, could tell me more. “Two paintings behind Queen Máxima (center and right) and the artwork above the fireplace should be by Jean George Teissier. All made around 1780.”
According to the website of the RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie), Teissier was a painter, decorative painter (of interiors), restorer (of paintings) and museum director. An artistic man, therefore, who made the three paintings for Willem V, the Prince of Orange-Nassau.
Teissier’s work can indeed be found on rkd.nl. The middle painting of the photo above depicts a landscape with a ruin and two men in medieval costume.
The painting on the right shows an “Italianized landscape with a pastoral scene”.
The artwork above the fireplace depicts a Cappricio with rider on horseback.
The painting to the left of Queen Máxima (seen from us) was made by Willem Kett.
A few works by W. Kett are also hanging opposite Queen Máxima.
It is not surprising that the seven paintings have been given such a prominent place in the palace. To understand that, we have to dive into the history books. The thing is: in the time of Willem V and Wilhelmina of Prussia, unrest arose in our country. Long story short: the couple had to flee. In all haste, some valuables are taken, but they have to leave many paintings behind. After the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon’s abdication, the captured art was returned to the Netherlands. King Willem l decides to house a large part of the royal art in an accessible museum (Mauritshuis). Only a fraction of the art collection from stadtholder times is housed in the Royal Collections. The seven paintings in Máxima’s media room are therefore among the oldest works in the royal collection. As a great art lover, she will certainly appreciate that.
In the time of Queen Beatrix, the works of art and the chandelier were already there, so they were not moved especially for Máxima.
The space of the other side:
PS. I wrote about the colorful chandelier years ago, but that blog disappeared when we moved. Who happens to still have the information ready or still knows who the maker is?
