The Triumph of the Winter Queen: Allegory of the Just
Artist: Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592–1656)
Collection: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Signed and dated in 1636, the painting is part allegory, part family portrait. Elizabeth Stuart, the recently widowed “Winter” Queen of Bohemia who was living in exile in the Netherlands, probably commissioned the painting for a hunting lodge at Rhenen, near The Hague. Scepter in hand, Elizabeth sits atop a wagon drawn by three lions. She is surrounded by her 13 children, some living and some dead. Among the latter is her eldest son, Frederick Henry, who appears at upper left with his father, the deceased “Winter” King; both hold palm branches and are bathed in a golden, celestial light. The figure under the chariot’s wheels is Neptune, ancient Roman god of water and the sea, whose trident pokes out from under the cart. He is getting his due. The painting’s title, The Triumph of the Winter Queen: Allegory of the Just, alludes to the fact that Frederick Henry had drowned in an accident in 1629.
The Winter King and Queen take their nicknames from the shortness of their reign. They were actually Frederick V, Elector (ruler) of the Palatinate, and Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of England’s King James I. In 1619 Frederick, who ruled portions of Germany, was selected as King of Bohemia (roughly today’s Czech Republic). Central Europe was divided by fierce religious and political conflict at the time, and Frederick’s selection helped ensure the slide into war. Frederick was a Protestant, as were many of his Bohemia subjects, but most of the surrounding powers were Roman Catholic. As soon as Frederick was crowned, the Holy Roman Emperor, a Catholic, claimed Bohemia as well. After just a year in power, Frederick and Elizabeth were driven into exile; the conflict was a key early moment in the Thirty Years’ War that ravaged central Europe.
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia
Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Frederick V of the Palatinate
Henry Frederick, Hereditary Prince of the Palatinate
Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine
Elisabeth of the Palatinate
Maurice of the Palatinate
Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern
Philip Frederick of the Palatinate
Charlotte of the Palatinate
Gustavus Adolphus of the Palatinate
Henriette Marie of the Palatinate
