Cornelis van Kittensteyn

Cornelius van Kittensteyn learned to engrave from Jacob Matham, an apprentice to Hendrick Goltzius. But instead of adapting the Haarlem school’s formulas for tone—particularly their swelling lozenges and dots—Kittensteyn engraved with a deliberate delicacy, concentrating on straight lines placed in more traditional patterns, similar to the fine manner of Wierix. Seemingly a conscious alteration to his teacher’s style, Kittensteyn’s technique allowed him to place emphasis on the many textures of the composition—textiles, animal skin, and hair—over heroic form or dramatic lighting effects.

Conceived as a triumphal procession in five sheets intended to be viewed as a frieze, this set is missing its fourth sheet. The theme is related to a painting executed at the city hall of Delft in 1620 and now lost. The composition presents an imagined procession of several generations of the ruling family of The Netherlands, the House of Orange. The patriarch, William of Nassau (the Silent) sits in the final chariot and is preceded by his successors. The historical figures are flanked by the Christian Virtues, the Political Virtues, and the Military Virtues, each numbered and named in Kittensteyn’s elaborate calligraphic script.