Portrait of Stadholder William V (1748-1806)

William V came of age in 1766, at 18, and took up his hereditary office as stadholder of the Dutch Republic. A year later he married the Prussian princess Wilhelmina, and soon after the wedding the Danish-born painter Ziesenis made several portraits of the young couple. This one and its partner, the portrait of his bride, date from around 1768.

The sitter matters to the Mauritshuis for a particular reason. William V collected Dutch and Flemish paintings of the 17th century, and also antiquities, coins, minerals, fossils, books and even live animals. In 1774 he opened his picture gallery on the Buitenhof in The Hague to visitors, and his paintings later became the core of the Mauritshuis collection.