Portret van Hugo de Groot c. 1669 - 1731

Pieter van Gunst created this engraving, "Portret van Hugo de Groot," some time between 1659 and 1724. It depicts Hugo de Groot, also known as Grotius, a towering figure in Dutch history. Grotius was a jurist in the Dutch Republic during its Golden Age, a period marked by unprecedented economic prosperity, global trade, and cultural flourishing. But this era was also fraught with religious and political tensions. As a legal philosopher, Grotius laid the foundations for international law based on natural law, advocating for principles of justice and reason among nations. But Grotius’s legacy is complex; we can ask ourselves how his ideas might have been used to justify colonial expansion and the exploitation of resources in the name of 'civilization'. Van Gunst's portrait captures Grotius in a way that reflects the social and intellectual status he occupied, yet it invites us to reflect on the power dynamics inherent in such representations.