''Portrait of William the Silent'' refers to a portrait painting on panel by the Flemish painter Adriaen Thomasz. Key depicting

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

, the leader of the

Dutch revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) (Historiography of the Eighty Years' War#Name and periodisation, c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and t ...

at about 46 years of age.Portrait of William I, Prince of Orange, Adriaen Thomasz. Key, c. 1579
at the Rijksmuseum

Versions

The work survives in three versions, which are now in the

Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...

(

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

), the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

(Amsterdam) and the

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

(Madrid). Only the latter version is dated and was painted in 1579. All three are considered autograph and to go back to a now lost original.Mar Borobia, ''Adriaen Thomasz. Key, William I, Prince of Orange, known as William the Silent''
at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum There are some minor differences between the versions in some details. The

and

versions are the closest to each other. The Mauritshuis version omits the shoulder and arm and shows a more severe facial expression. The version in the Mauritshuis was restored after the panel was damaged by a crack in the wood, which did not affect the face. The shoulder of the sitter has been reconstructed. The reconstruction was based on the other versions of the portrait.Adriaen Thomasz Key, Portrait of William I (1533-1584), Prince of Orange
c. 1579 at the Mauritshuis

Description

The sitter is posed against a dark background against which the flesh tones of the face, the white

ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader fami ...

and the elegant grey and gold decoration of his clothes stand out. The face is rendered with much detail in line with the Northern portraiture of the period. At the time this portrait was painted, William the Silent was at the height of his career. This can also be seen in the portrait. He is not shown in armour, but in neat and opulent civilian clothes.''Adriaen Thomasz. Key''
at Kunstbus In this portrait from Key's later period, the influence of

Antonis Mor Anthonis Mor, also known as Anthonis Mor van Dashorst and Antonio Moro (c. 1517 – 1577), was a Netherlandish portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has also been referred to as Antoon, Anthonius, Anthonis or Mor van Dashor ...

is shown in its increased interest in conveying the sitter's social status.

The maker

Adriaen Thomasz. Key was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

of portraits and religious paintings, a draughtsman and a printmaker. He worked for a while in the Antwerp workshop of the prominent history and portrait painter

Willem Key Willem Adriaensz Key (1516 – 5 June 1568) was a Flemish Renaissance painter. Biography Key was born in Breda, Netherlands. In 1529 he was known to be a pupil of Pieter Coecke van Aelst in Antwerp. Later, together with Frans Floris, h ...

and later took over the workshop.''Adriaen Thomasz. Key''
at the Prado website File:WilliamOfOrange1580.jpg, Rijksmuseum File:William I, Prince of Orange by Adriaen Thomasz. Key Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza 208 (1928.7) - WGA12161.jpg, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza File:Willem I, Prince of Orange by Adriaen Thomasz. Key Mauritshuis 225.jpg, Mauritshuis

References

External links

*{{Commons-inline, Adriaen Thomasz. Key, Adriaen Thomasz. Key category:1570s paintings category:William the Silent Paintings in the collection of the Rijksmuseum category:Paintings in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Paintings in the collection of the Mauritshuis

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...