'T Konings Loo
Print
1695-1698 (published)
1695-1698 (published)
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Place of origin |
This etching by Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708) is one of a series of fifteen prints of the palace of Het Loo and its gardens. The set includes a panorama of the palace and thirteen prints showing views of different parts of the gardens. They were published together with a description of the gardens, in Amsterdam, by Pieter Persoy. The gardens were famous and inspired many prints and international commentators.
Het Loo was built by Prince William III of Orange (1650-1702) after he became Stadholder of Gelderland in 1672 and with that acquired the hunting rights to the Veluwe. He purchased the castle of Oude Loo in 1684 and the new lodge was built in the grounds and completed in 1686. The gardens were extended, which incorporating designs made by other artists, such as French designer resident in the Netherlands, Daniel Marot (1661-1752) and the author of these prints Romeyn de Hooghe.
In common with seventeenth century European practice the gardens were arranged along a central axis with an almost symmetrical arrangement of parterres on either side. Comments by Romein de Hooghe on his own designs for sculptures of river gods for the garden suggest that water was a dominant feature of the scheme. In the garden there are numerous fountains, canals and cascades, but also sculptures and fountains representing river gods, fish, dolphins, tritons and swans. Use of water and symmetry and unifying approach to design owes something to the ideas being developed in France André Le Nôtre (1613-1700, who designed the gardens at Versailles for the French king Louis XIV between 1661 and 1668. Inspired by earlier French gardeners but also classical and renaissance texts, Le Nôtre followed principles such as geometric proportion in nature and used water to create optical illusions and to unify the iconography of the scheme. He added a greater emphasis on order and unity of design by linking exterior and interior decorative schemes. This idea was followed at Het Loo, whereby Daniel Marot was involved in designing both the palace and gardens and elements of design overlap between exterior and interior. The parterres en broderie (garden compartments creating patterns from box-hedge and earth, in this period also incorporating clipped and ordered flowers, have the same pattern as found in a stucco ceiling inside the castle; ceiling paintings and silk hangings also incorporate vases found in the garden.
However, the unified plan seems not to have been followed for long in the garden. There are also incidental vases and sculptures, references to Hercules and elements reflecting William III's later status (from 1689) as King of England, including canals in the shape of a monogram of William and Mary II. Het Loo also differed from French gardens in that, while Le Nôtre's designs were characterised by the arrangement of gardens along axes with long and wedge-shaped parterres accentuating length through an illusion of perspective, Het Loo had rectangular parterres that exphasized width. This was a more traditional Dutch practice found at other gardens such as the Huis ter Nieuwburgh. Also, Le Nôtre preferred simplified schemes and used parterres en broderie and flowers sparingly only to accentuate unity of design. The Dutch were renowned for their cultivation of flowers, so in their gardens different flower species were separated within the parterres to showcase them.
Het Loo was built by Prince William III of Orange (1650-1702) after he became Stadholder of Gelderland in 1672 and with that acquired the hunting rights to the Veluwe. He purchased the castle of Oude Loo in 1684 and the new lodge was built in the grounds and completed in 1686. The gardens were extended, which incorporating designs made by other artists, such as French designer resident in the Netherlands, Daniel Marot (1661-1752) and the author of these prints Romeyn de Hooghe.
In common with seventeenth century European practice the gardens were arranged along a central axis with an almost symmetrical arrangement of parterres on either side. Comments by Romein de Hooghe on his own designs for sculptures of river gods for the garden suggest that water was a dominant feature of the scheme. In the garden there are numerous fountains, canals and cascades, but also sculptures and fountains representing river gods, fish, dolphins, tritons and swans. Use of water and symmetry and unifying approach to design owes something to the ideas being developed in France André Le Nôtre (1613-1700, who designed the gardens at Versailles for the French king Louis XIV between 1661 and 1668. Inspired by earlier French gardeners but also classical and renaissance texts, Le Nôtre followed principles such as geometric proportion in nature and used water to create optical illusions and to unify the iconography of the scheme. He added a greater emphasis on order and unity of design by linking exterior and interior decorative schemes. This idea was followed at Het Loo, whereby Daniel Marot was involved in designing both the palace and gardens and elements of design overlap between exterior and interior. The parterres en broderie (garden compartments creating patterns from box-hedge and earth, in this period also incorporating clipped and ordered flowers, have the same pattern as found in a stucco ceiling inside the castle; ceiling paintings and silk hangings also incorporate vases found in the garden.
However, the unified plan seems not to have been followed for long in the garden. There are also incidental vases and sculptures, references to Hercules and elements reflecting William III's later status (from 1689) as King of England, including canals in the shape of a monogram of William and Mary II. Het Loo also differed from French gardens in that, while Le Nôtre's designs were characterised by the arrangement of gardens along axes with long and wedge-shaped parterres accentuating length through an illusion of perspective, Het Loo had rectangular parterres that exphasized width. This was a more traditional Dutch practice found at other gardens such as the Huis ter Nieuwburgh. Also, Le Nôtre preferred simplified schemes and used parterres en broderie and flowers sparingly only to accentuate unity of design. The Dutch were renowned for their cultivation of flowers, so in their gardens different flower species were separated within the parterres to showcase them.
Object details
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Materials and techniques | Etching on paper |
Brief description | Etching by Romeyn de Hooghe, one of a set showing views of the gardens of Het Loo, Netherlands, 1695-1698. |
Physical description | View of part of the grounds of Het Loo. Two pavilions facing each other each with a classical style wall painting in a cartouche. A small, circular fountain is situated between them. A line of fountains lead to a palace in the background and a row of tall trees partially frame the palace. Two ends of a semi-circular colonnade can be seen in the centre of the image, separated from the pavilions by rows of three conifer trees, where there is also a group of men and women. A man is standing in the right pavilion, and three people are sitting in the left. In the foreground, two couples are standing at the railing at the top of a shallow set of stairs that lead down into the foreground. Two men are descending the stairs to the right while on the left a man plays with a dog. To the left, is a boy leading a horse. In front of the steps is a pool fed by a number of spouts to each side and a cascade set in a wall behind on which are two winged grotesque figures, each with one leg and one fish tail. |
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Summary | This etching by Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708) is one of a series of fifteen prints of the palace of Het Loo and its gardens. The set includes a panorama of the palace and thirteen prints showing views of different parts of the gardens. They were published together with a description of the gardens, in Amsterdam, by Pieter Persoy. The gardens were famous and inspired many prints and international commentators. Het Loo was built by Prince William III of Orange (1650-1702) after he became Stadholder of Gelderland in 1672 and with that acquired the hunting rights to the Veluwe. He purchased the castle of Oude Loo in 1684 and the new lodge was built in the grounds and completed in 1686. The gardens were extended, which incorporating designs made by other artists, such as French designer resident in the Netherlands, Daniel Marot (1661-1752) and the author of these prints Romeyn de Hooghe. In common with seventeenth century European practice the gardens were arranged along a central axis with an almost symmetrical arrangement of parterres on either side. Comments by Romein de Hooghe on his own designs for sculptures of river gods for the garden suggest that water was a dominant feature of the scheme. In the garden there are numerous fountains, canals and cascades, but also sculptures and fountains representing river gods, fish, dolphins, tritons and swans. Use of water and symmetry and unifying approach to design owes something to the ideas being developed in France André Le Nôtre (1613-1700, who designed the gardens at Versailles for the French king Louis XIV between 1661 and 1668. Inspired by earlier French gardeners but also classical and renaissance texts, Le Nôtre followed principles such as geometric proportion in nature and used water to create optical illusions and to unify the iconography of the scheme. He added a greater emphasis on order and unity of design by linking exterior and interior decorative schemes. This idea was followed at Het Loo, whereby Daniel Marot was involved in designing both the palace and gardens and elements of design overlap between exterior and interior. The parterres en broderie (garden compartments creating patterns from box-hedge and earth, in this period also incorporating clipped and ordered flowers, have the same pattern as found in a stucco ceiling inside the castle; ceiling paintings and silk hangings also incorporate vases found in the garden. However, the unified plan seems not to have been followed for long in the garden. There are also incidental vases and sculptures, references to Hercules and elements reflecting William III's later status (from 1689) as King of England, including canals in the shape of a monogram of William and Mary II. Het Loo also differed from French gardens in that, while Le Nôtre's designs were characterised by the arrangement of gardens along axes with long and wedge-shaped parterres accentuating length through an illusion of perspective, Het Loo had rectangular parterres that exphasized width. This was a more traditional Dutch practice found at other gardens such as the Huis ter Nieuwburgh. Also, Le Nôtre preferred simplified schemes and used parterres en broderie and flowers sparingly only to accentuate unity of design. The Dutch were renowned for their cultivation of flowers, so in their gardens different flower species were separated within the parterres to showcase them. |
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Collection | |
Accession number | 13677:6 |
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Record created | June 30, 2009 |
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