Project

Artist

Gérard de Lairesse (1640 –1711) was the principal ceiling painter of the second half of the Gouden Eeuw [17th century] who was primarily famous for his books on painting and drawing which were a great influence on eighteenth-century painters such as Jacob de Wit.
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Depiction

The main figure in the ceiling painting is depicted on the central canvas. A young woman dressed in white has been portrayed to personify ‘Freedom’. She is protected by the ferocious lion of Amsterdam which is armed with a sword and shield.
On the right-hand canvas Freedom is aided by the personification of the Republic (of the Netherlands) portrayed by Minerva and an eagle. The latter chases off the vices Envy and Lies: the enemies of wise, just rule.
On the left-hand canvas Concord tramples the vanquished, chained enemies personified by two naked men with animal skins and a broken sword.
In the left-hand corner, the composition is concluded by the sea god of the IJ [river], who has been depicted with an anchor and a ship’s wheel. The right-hand canvas shows the river god of the Amstel, recognisable by his oar. Together with Mercury in the centre and the ‘corona navalis’ (naval crown) which Freedom is crowned with, the water gods symbolise the important position shipping had as a source of trade and prosperity for Amsterdam.
More will be posted in the near future on the ceiling’s iconographic programme and the meaning of the ‘Ware Vrijheid’ [True Freedom] in the politics and art of seventeenth-century Holland.

Text: Jephta Dullaart

History

Of the ceiling paintings by Gérard de Lairesse from the Peace Palace

Introduction

The paintings which, for almost a century, have embellished the ceiling of the Ferdinand Bol room of the Peace Palace in The Hague, were originally painted for the ‘Sael’ [ballroom] of the imposing home of Mayor Andries de Graeff (1611-1678) on the Herengracht (currently No. 446) in Amsterdam. De Graeff, a scion of an important family of regents, had a monumental double canal-side house built along the ‘Gouden Bocht’ [the Golden Bend, the most prestigious part of the Herengracht] between 1669 and 1672. The building is still there, but the ceiling paintings have long since disappeared from the garden room. In 1903, the three ceiling paintings were purchased at auction in Amsterdam by the Carnegie Stichting [Carnegie Foundation] for the yet to be built Peace Palace.