Double Portrait of Prince Willem III (1650-1702) and his Aunt Maria, Princess of Orange (1642-1688), as Children

The small figure on the left in red satin, with gold-trimmed leading strings hanging from the shoulders, is a boy. Prince Willem III was three when Honthorst painted him in 1653, and he carries flowers in his apron for his aunt Maria, who is weaving them into a wreath. She was eleven, the youngest child of the late stadholder Frederik Hendrik, and only eight years older than her nephew. His father, her eldest brother Willem II, had died eight days before he was born.

Their grandmother, Amalia of Solms, ordered the portrait for Huis ten Bosch, her palace in the woods outside The Hague. Today it belongs to the Mauritshuis and hangs in the Gallery Prince Willem V. Small boys of Willem's rank were dressed in skirts in their first years, which is why he looks so much like a girl. Maria's blue satin dress is a fantasy costume, chosen so that the portrait would not date.