Amalia van Solms, wife of Frederick Henry, from Nine Portraits
Medium
Engraving on paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 42.2 × 31 cm (16 5/8 × 12 1/4 in.); Sheet: 51 × 37 cm (20 1/8 × 14 5/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
217890
Art Historical Context
This striking engraving by Cornelis Visscher captures Amalia van Solms, the influential wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange as part of his 1649 series *Nine Portraits*. Created just a year after the Peace of Westphalia brought an end to decades of conflict in the Netherlands, the print reflects the renewed stability and cultural flourishing of the Dutch Golden Age. Visscher, a leading Amsterdam engraver, presents the noblewoman with dignified poise, emphasizing her status within the House of Orange-Nassau. The medium of engraving on paper allowed such portraits to reach wide audiences t...
About the Artist
Cornelis Visscher · 1629–1658
Cornelis Visscher (1629–1658) was a Dutch Golden Age engraver, draughtsman, and printmaker born in Haarlem, the brother of fellow artists Jan de Visscher and Lambert Visscher. Little is known of his early life, but he studied under the Haarlem painter and engraver Pieter Claesz Soutman, with whom he closely collaborated from 1649 to 1650, producing numerous portrait engravings for Soutman's print ...