Portret van Willem Coolhaes 1761

Jacob Houbraken created this print of Willem Coolhaes at an unknown date. Houbraken was a key figure in the Dutch Republic’s engraving industry, which reproduced portraits of leading citizens on a large scale. This image presents Coolhaes – professor and ecclesiast of oriental languages at Amsterdam – as a figure of immense learning. He is seen in his study, complete with tasselled curtains and bookshelves. He is wearing a preacher’s gown and a neatly curled wig. Coolhaes is portrayed as a man of the cloth but also, crucially, as a scholar. The Dutch Republic was one of Europe’s great centres of learning in this period, boosted by its wealth and international trade. There was strong demand for learned theologians, steeped in classical languages, to preach to expanding urban congregations, and to participate in the Republic’s vibrant intellectual culture. In understanding this print and the culture that produced it, historians might consult university archives, publications from the period, or records from the Dutch Reformed Church. In doing so, the social meaning of this image becomes much clearer.