Princes Maurits and Frederik Hendrik at the Valkenburg Horse Fair

In 1618 Prince Maurice broke the power of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the statesman who had steered the Republic's affairs for three decades. In August he was arrested with the prince's backing, and the following May the old man was beheaded in The Hague. This panel, signed and dated that same year, hangs in the museum's room on the power struggle in the young Republic, yet it shows Maurice in an easy light. He and his younger half-brother Frederick Henry arrive at the horse fair in Valkenburg, near Leiden, in an open carriage drawn by six grey horses, with courtiers riding around them. Van de Venne sets the polished Hague court against the rough manners of the country crowd. Among the tents there is a ballad singer, and at the edge of the scene a woman selling fruit and vegetables is having her purse picked.