Romeyn de Hooghe

Dutch etcher, draughtsman, painter, sculptor, medallist and writer. He is best known for his political caricatures of Louis XIV of France and for his prints glorifying William III, Stadholder of the Netherlands and King of England. De Hooghe is an important representative of the late Dutch Baroque. His style is characterized by strong contrasts of lights and darks and an expressive composition. In his prints he combined contemporary personalities with allegorical figures. His prints are numerous, but few of his drawings survive and his paintings are rarer still.

De Hooghe’s first commission for an etching probably came from Constantijn Huygens the elder, secretary to William III; this was Zeestraet (1667; Hollstein, no. 287). In 1668 de Hooghe was in Paris, where he produced some book illustrations, but he returned to Amsterdam, where from 1670 to 1691 he illustrated the annual newsheet Hollandsche Mercurius. He regularly produced such political prints as William III Sworn in as Commander-in-Chief of the Republican Forces (1672; Hollstein, no. 84); this event took place after Louis XIV had invaded the Netherlands, and thereafter de Hooghe was kept busy producing prints reflecting the course of the war (e.g. Admiral de Ruyter’s Victories over the English and French Fleets, 1673; Hollstein, nos 75–6). In 1687–8 he was a Commissioner of Justice in Haarlem, and in 1688 he built a house and a drawing school. He also made a large map of the city of Haarlem. (SOURCE: Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/, accessed October 7, 2016).