Bust of Prince William IV of Orange (1711-1751)

Entry

The marble version of the portrait bust of the Prince of Orange, later Stadholder William IV, by Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742) and completed in 1733, is owned by the Mauritshuis in The Hague,⁴ while its full-scale terracotta modello can be found in the Rijksmuseum (shown here). Both portray the 22-year old prince with full regalia, the ceremonial cuirass, the ermine-lined cloak and the Order of the Garter. The chosen form, a bust ‘at half length’, is in keeping with the elevated status of the subject. It is a portrait type that radiates the greatest grandeur and was traditionally reserved for monarchs, the nobility and other high-ranking persons. The grandeur is further enhanced by the casually draped cloak suspended round the prince’s torso to mask the unnatural ending of the chest.

Comparison of the terracotta and marble versions shows that Xavery’s modello differs in only small details from his sculpture in marble. The final/completed work is 8 cm higher, primarily on account of the larger plinth, the head is more raised, and the pupils have not been incised. This has given the marble a more monumental, timeless and aristocratic bearing, fitting for an official portrait of this type. Interestingly, the prince was given three pimples on his left cheek, whereas the terracotta had only one. Xavery earned 1,188 pounds for this court commission.⁵

In 1736 the sculptor also supplied the marble bust of Anne of Hannover (1709-1759), whom the prince had married in 1734. The terracotta model of that portrait has been in the possession of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota since 1963,⁶ whereas the marble version is in the Mauritshuis.⁷ Xavery received 1,050 pounds for that work.⁸ Both marble busts stood on red marble pedestals in the Oranjezaal of Huis ten Bosch Palace, the stadholder’s residence on the outskirts of The Hague. This was already mentioned in the Tegenwoordige Staat of 1746: ‘…on the floor on either side of the fireplace…on pedestals of unusually colourful, reddish, almost Orange-coloured marble’, the description suggesting that the colour of the marble was an intentional reference to the House of Orange’.⁹ Xavery must have achieved considerable fame and prestige for these portrait busts for the court, because after 1736 various commissions were to follow, for portraits and funerary monuments for persons in the court’s and government’s immediate entourage, such as the bust of the Portuguese envoy to the Republic, Don Luis da Cunha of 1737 (BK-1994-3).

The two terracotta models of Xavery’s portrait busts of the prince and his consort were left in the sculptor’s studio. His widow lent them as decoration for the festive architecture erected in The Hague to commemorate the prince’s installation as stadholder on 15 May 1747. They were positioned along het Zieken, the street where Xavery’s studio had been. An engraving in Haga Comitis illustrate (1751) shows the two works.¹⁰ Two smaller derivatives, also in terracotta, depicting only the couple’s heads on a low base, are in possession of the Duke of Argyll.¹¹ They might have been ordered by the stadholder’s court to be sent to the English court in London. Lastly, a marble bust also exists which was probably derived from this smaller terracotta portrait of princess Anne, though this version has had a shell-shaped tiara added in the hair.¹²

Frits Scholten, 2025