Mourning the Prince of Orange

Anna Lisa Schwartz analyses the rites and expressions surrounding the death and funeral of Prince Willem IV on 22 October 1751. Schwartz’s essay clearly illustrates that the Protestant Reformation did not see an end to lavish funeral ceremonies, funerary decorations, or mourning chapels. Willem died a stadtholder of all seven provinces of the Dutch Republic, a position he had achieved only four years before as the first scion of both branches of the Nassau dynasty (the Frisian and the Orange). Schwartz examines a plethora of visual and literary expressions: the decorations of the mourning hall; the catafalque; and funerary poems, medals, and books, the latter containing both descriptions and etchings of all funeral ceremonies. Tellingly, visual references were made to obsequies of Willem’s predecessors belonging to the Orange branch: its founder, William the Silent; his sons Maurits and Frederik Hendrik; and Willem’s predecessor, the king-stadtholder Willem III.