The world of the Huygens family

This is the house of the Dutch poet and statesman Constantijn Huygens and his family. He was secretary of the stadholder Frederik Hendrik. Life was busy at the Binnenhof so when there was some spare time left, Constantijn fled to his estate in Voorburg. Here he invited many guests, which whom he discussed a lot about art, music and literature. In the gardens he had an orchard and a herb garden, which provided the kitchen with ingredients for the meals. Guests also were allowed to pick apples and berries from the garden. Constantijn was an art lover and a contemporary of Rembrandt, Rubens and Lievens. He also made an elaborate poem on his garden. The garden plan (1640) was based on the Vitruvius Man from Da Vinci. In 1620 he made a trip to Venice. The impressions he gained here were of influence on the rest of his (artistic) life and likely on what we see when we look at Hofwijck.

Liberation Parade Wassenaar

Lady in Delftblue Dress

30 Apr, Queen's Day - Holland

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Happy Easter!

"God thy will is hard

But you hold every card"

~*~

Gethsemane , Jesus Christ Superstar

Nice dresses, castles & romance...

Here's a nice embossing stencil from my local craft shop. I especially like the courting couple down under. The stories of "Twelfth Night", P.C. Hooft (organizing meetings in castle Muiderslot and in his prune orchard...) or royal banquets and feasts have always amused me. I'm not yet sure what to do with the theme, but I'm thinking....

Crafthouses

These Crafthouses are a trend in the Netherlands and at the moment I'm reading "The Rembrandtcode", which takes place in the old centre of Amsterdam. I started, though, by making a gazebo...