Portrait of Willem Joseph Baron van Ghent tot Drakenburgh (1626-1672)

Entry

Upon establishing himself in the Dutch Republic shortly before 1650, Rombout Verhulst (1624-1698) evolved to become the most important sculptor of funerary monuments, portrait busts and garden sculpture in the Northern Netherlands. Verhulst’s qualities in the first two genres are clearly demonstrated in this portrait study of the naval hero Van Ghent. The terracotta shows the admiral with his eyes closed, ostensibly shortly after his death during the Battle of Solesbay in 1672.

Van Ghent was a leading military commander of the Dutch Republic in the second half of the seventeenth century. A nobleman from Guelders, Van Ghent started out his career in the army. From 1659 on, he was chosen to oversee sea operations, including the raid on the island of Funen led by Michiel de Ruyter in the campaign against the Swedish during the Second Northern War. At that point, Van Ghent’s military career shifted in the direction of the Dutch navy. At the end of 1664, he was made lieutenant-colonel and governor of the most important naval base of the Northern Netherlands at Hellevoetsluis. As an advisor to Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, Van Ghent played a key role in setting up a ‘regiment de marine’, the precursor of the modern-day marine corps, designed to enable the navy to carry out attacks against the English fleet at anchor or other targets on land. During the sea battles waged against the English in 1665-1667, Van Ghent distinguished himself through his acts of valour: first as captain of the ship Gelderland as part of the Admiraliteit op de Maze (Admiralty of Rotterdam), and from 1666 on, as Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West Friesland, an appointment confirming the major role he had come to play by this time as a politically trustworthy and skilful military commander. In May 1667, Van Ghent took part in the famous Raid on the Medway, a victory largely attributable to his actions. On 21 June, the English fleet, anchored in the docks at Medway, was seriously damaged by the Dutch navy’s attack. It was to be the Dutch Republic’s largest maritime victory in its wars against the English and a major naval defeat for the British. For his role, the States General rewarded Van Ghent with a golden chalice.

During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, an attempt to repeat previous successes failed: this time, the British had managed to heavily arm their coastal fortifications. During the ensuing Battle of Solebay, Van Ghent and his flagship the Dolphijn attacked the English flagship the Royal James on 7 June 1672. The Royal James had been destroyed, but the commander of the Dolphijn perished in the battle. Van Ghent’s body was embalmed and initially buried in Arnhem. It was not until 1673 or 1674 that the Admiralty of Amsterdam decreed that Rombout Verhulst be commissioned to build a monumental tomb for the deceased naval hero.² Its designated location was in the Utrecht Cathedral, in accordance with Van Ghent’s wishes. The monument not only honoured Van Ghent’s triumphs at sea, but also addressed his noble status. The monument was completed in 1676, with Van Ghent’s body finally interred in the chancel of the Utrecht church.

Verhulst made this post mortem facial study in preparation for this large-scale enterprise. To this end he seems to have used a death mask of Van Ghent as a mould for his face and neck,³ carefully reworking the clay surface while it was still wet, resulting in one of the most sensitive and ‘true to life’ portrayals ever achieved in the sculptor’s oeuvre. It also corresponds precisely with the marble portrait adorning Van Ghent’s tomb monument in Utrecht Cathedral.⁴ Nevertheless, the present terracotta bust would not have functioned as the modello for this sculpture: according to custom, there is no doubt Verhulst worked instead with a plaster portrait model cast after this terracotta face. In addition to complete models of the planned tomb monument – to be implemented as a vidimus for showing his design to the commissioning party (cf. BK-NM-4352) – the sculptor resorted to various terracotta portrait studies reflecting the evolving representations of the deceased subjects adorning his tomb monuments. In addition to the present terracotta depiction of Van Ghent, a similar death portrait of the face of Lieutenant-Admiral De Ruyter (BK-NM-13150) also survives, along with the two portrait busts of husband and wife Van Liere-Van Reygersbergh (BK-NM-11957-A and -B). Such funerary portrait studies were often passed on to the patron upon the tomb’s completion. Verhulst’s will and testament of 1692, however, indicates that he also kept such terracottas for himself on occasion. Clearly stipulated, for example, is that the sculptor’s ‘small clay and plaster sculptures of epitaphs’ were bequeathed to an (otherwise unknown) apprentice, Johan van der Heijden.⁵ Van Ghent’s terracotta portrait also served as a model for a Dutch postage stamp released in 1943.

Frits Scholten, 2024