The Infancy of Zeus

In 1647 the stadtholder Frederick Henry died, and soon afterwards his widow, Amalia van Solms, began turning the central hall of her palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague into a memorial to him, the Oranjezaal. Berchem signed and dated this canvas in 1648. It is more than two metres high and over two and a half metres wide, a large mythological picture, and the Mauritshuis suggests he may have painted it hoping to win a share of that prestigious commission. The story is Greek. Zeus's father Cronus devoured his children, so the baby was hidden and raised in secret. Here the infant sleeps safely in the lap of the nymph Adrastea, while a grinning satyr brings a barrel of milk. For the child Berchem borrowed a statuette by the sculptor Artus Quellinus and changed the tilt of the head and shoulders so it could rest against the nymph's legs. The Oranjezaal was painted in the end by others, among them the Flemish master Jacob Jordaens.