Standbeeld van Willem I, prins van Oranje, op het Plein te Den Haag 1848 - 1899

This is an undated print of the statue of William I, Prince of Orange, located in The Hague. Created anonymously, the artwork emphasizes geometric clarity and monumental form, with the statue rendered in precise lines against a stark white background. The composition’s formal structure conveys a sense of stability. The statue, perched atop a multi-tiered pedestal, becomes a study in idealized form and civic virtue. Note how the play of light and shadow, achieved through delicate hatching, subtly models the figure and imbues it with a subdued grandeur. The artist uses the geometric forms of the monument to express a clarity of vision. The artwork exists as a signifier of power, stability, and the enduring legacy of its subject. Its strength resides in its formal rendering, and in the way, it uses the monument as a carrier of cultural and political meaning. By distilling its essence to geometric forms, the artist prompts us to consider how monuments function as both aesthetic objects and emblems of ideology.