The Zeeland elite gladly and frequently had themselves portrayed. This was already the case in the seventeenth century, but certainly holds true for the eighteenth century. This exhibition shows a selection of portraits of Zeelanders from the eighteenth century.
However, there were hardly any local portraitists in the first half of the eighteenth century. People therefore did not only have their portraits painted in Zeeland, but also, for example, when they were in The Hague for business or elsewhere for family visits.
To meet the high demand for portraits, Philip van Dijk (1683-1753) came from Amsterdam to Middelburg in 1708, where he remained for ten years. Even after his departure to The Hague, he returned ‘with an annual trip to Zeeland’ until a ripe old age. In the early fifties, Jan Palthe (1717-1769) stayed briefly in Zeeland.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, Jean Henry Appelius (1721-after 1790), originally from Germany, settled in Zeeland. It was only in the last quarter of the eighteenth century that local portraitists such as Abraham Meertens (1747-1823) and Jacob Perkois (1756-1804) also appeared.
The exhibition features works from the collections of Duivenvoorde Castle, Keukenhof Castle, Museum De Lakenhal, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, the Zeeuws Museum, the Zeeuws Genootschap, the Zeeuws Archief, as well as from private individuals. Many of these portraits are rarely seen by the public.
The publication of the same name was written by guest curator drs. Jim van der Meer Mohr and published by WBooks.