Adriaen Thomasz. Key

In 1579 Adriaen Thomasz. Key painted William of Orange, the prince who led the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule. The small panel in the Rijksmuseum is one of several versions he made of that face. The year after it was painted, King Philip II of Spain put a price on William's head, and in 1584 the prince was shot dead in Delft.

Key's own name hides a small puzzle. He was born around 1544 as Adriaen, son of Thomas, and for a long time he was taken for a relative of the Antwerp painter Willem Key. Research has shown he was no relation at all. He took over Willem Key's workshop in 1567 and adopted the name that came with it.

He became a Calvinist in a city split by religion, and he stayed in Antwerp even after Spanish troops retook it in 1585. His sober, close-up portraits were valued in his lifetime, and one of them, a 1583 portrait of a whole family with parents and children side by side, hangs in the Prado in Madrid. After 1589 the records fall silent, and the year of his death is unknown.