Aleid overwint de West-Friesen, 1195 1839 - 1841

Johann Wilhelm Kaiser made this print, "Aleid Overwint de West-Friesen, 1195," sometime in the 19th century. Its themes touch on some fascinating aspects of Dutch history and nation-building. The image depicts a victorious Aleid van Holland, who successfully defended her castle against the West Frisians in 1195, according to legend. The Dutch collective memory has long celebrated this moment. However, this print wasn’t made in the 12th century, but in the 19th. As such, it tells us more about the cultural references and political associations of Kaiser’s time. The print belongs to a historical moment in which national myths were shaped, and history was often mobilized to serve contemporary political goals. It is therefore useful to look at the archives of the Rijksmuseum to understand the curatorial decisions that led to this print being collected, and the place it occupied in the museum's narrative of Dutch history. We might also ask how history painting and printmaking served to shape the collective identity of the Netherlands in the 19th century.