Maurice, Prince of Orange (1567-1625) c. 1692 - 1697

Jan Claudius de Cock made this terracotta bust of Maurice, Prince of Orange, sometime in the late 17th or early 18th century. It memorializes a figure from over a century earlier, so it’s worth asking what purpose such a representation might serve. The Dutch Republic was a major economic and military power at this time, a mercantile society with a large overseas empire. We can see how the artist used visual cues to project the status and authority of his subject. The Prince’s armor, the lace collar, and the medallion all signal power, but are carefully balanced to create a sense of noble restraint. De Cock would have been working within a specific set of institutional and cultural expectations for portraiture and he clearly knew how to operate within that system. To better understand the image, it would be useful to examine the patronage networks that supported artists like de Cock, as well as the display contexts for this kind of sculpture.