Binnenplaats van het paleis van Svartsjö 1686

Herman Padtbrugge made this print of the courtyard of Svartsjö Palace in Sweden sometime in the late 17th century. Palaces were potent symbols of power, and this image is no exception. Note how the architecture dwarfs the figures in the courtyard, emphasizing the scale and grandeur, and therefore the authority, of the Swedish monarchy. Above the building we see the royal coat-of-arms with its motto, ‘lex interior norma futura’, the interior law is the norm for the future. This motto suggests that the monarch rules by his own conscience, not by laws imposed from the outside. However, Padtbrugge was Dutch, not Swedish, and was brought to Sweden to work for the crown. The paradoxes of cultural exchange and the imposition of foreign styles and ideas are key to understanding how the palaces of Europe became such powerful symbols. Historians can draw on a wide variety of resources, from architectural plans to diplomatic correspondence, to understand the complex social and institutional forces behind works like this.