Garland of Flowers surrounding a Sculpture of the Virgin Mary

In 1645 the Dutch Republic was still at war with Spain, and Antwerp lay on the Spanish side of the lines. That year the Antwerp Jesuits sent this large canvas north as a present to the Protestant stadholder Frederik Hendrik and his wife Amalia van Solms.

Daniel Seghers, a brother of the order, painted the stone niche and the flowers. The statue of the Virgin holding the Child is by Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, a figure painter he brought in. Among the tulips and roses hang small oranges and sprigs of their white blossom, a courtesy to the prince's dynasty, the House of Orange.

Frederik Hendrik answered with a gold rosary and two gold crucifixes for the painter. Later the canvas hung above the mantelpiece at Huis ten Bosch, the palace Amalia had built in the woods at The Hague.