Miniatuurportret van Rombout Hoogerbeets 17th century

This is Clemens Nachtegaal’s miniature portrait of Rombout Hoogerbeets. Nachtegaal, active in the early 18th century, likely etched this portrait of Hoogerbeets posthumously. The clothing and ruff collar worn by Hoogerbeets locate the portrait in the late 16th or early 17th century. In life, Hoogerbeets was an important politician and jurist in the early Dutch Republic; he was an important supporter of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. In 1619, both were arrested on charges of treason. Oldenbarnevelt was executed and Hoogerbeets was sentenced to life imprisonment in Loevestein Castle. This portrait, then, is not simply a likeness. It is a statement, made long after Hoogerbeets’s death, about the importance of his political ideas for the Netherlands. The imagery evokes a fraught period in Dutch history. To better understand the portrait’s meaning, we can research the history of the Dutch Republic, as well as the Nachtegaal family and their political leanings.