Lot 19: Joseph Philippe Oorloft (Brussels 1793-1861)

Joseph Philippe Oorloft (Brussels 1793-1861) William I Frederick of Orange-Nassau (1772-1843), King of the Netherlands (1815-1840) standing full-length in an interior, wearing the breast-star of the Dutch Military Order of William signed and dated ‘Oorloft 1830’ (lower right) and inscribed ‘peint de memoire’ (lower left). inscribed on reverse of the frame ‘[…] Oorloft, 1830. / L’ivoire est encaissé / dans une plaque de fer, / pour qu’il reste droit; / de là vient la grande / pesanteur du tableau.’ on ivory rectangular, 26.5 cm. x 17.1 cm. Gilt metal mount within ebonised frame

26.5 cm. x 17.1 cm.

Anonymous sale; Christie’s Amsterdam, 4 December 1984, lot 1.

King William was the son of William V, Prince of Orange (1748-1806) and Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia (1751-1820). He married firstly Friederike Luise Wilhelmine of Prussia (1774–1837), daughter of his uncle Frederick William II of Prussia in 1791 and secondly her lady-in-waiting, Henrietta d'Oultremont (1792-1864) in 1841. He emigrated with his family to England in 1795 after the French invasion of the Dutch Republic and lived in exile at the Prussian court until 1812. Following the French withdrawal from the Netherlands in 1813 William became King of the United Netherlands in 1815, which included the southern Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In 1822 King William founded a bank to finance industrial expansion in Belgium and later formed the Netherlands Trading Society to facilitate long-distance commerce in the north. King William, who refused to implement political reforms, became unpopular with much of the Dutch population and abdicated in 1840, spending the rest of his life in Berlin and styling himself King William Frederick, Count of Nassau. King William’s sister, Princess Louise of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Brunswick (1770-1819) bequeathed her entire collection of portrait miniatures to William upon her death and this laid the foundation for the Royal Collection of portrait miniatures, now in the House of Orange-Nassau Historic Collections Trust. Portraits of King William during his lifetime were widely sought after and appear to have been gifted on many occasions as thanks for services rendered (see K. Schaffers-Bodenhausen and M. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, The Portrait Miniatures in the Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau, Zwolle, 1993, pp. 58-60). A number of portrait miniatures of William are in the Collection of the House of Orange Nassau, most depict William as a younger man and none are full-length (ibid., pp. 118-126). Oorloft painted miniatures for a time in Paris and worked in the style of the pupils of Augustin.