Follower of Joachim Wtewael

The present sheet is a copy after one of the drawings (now lost) from the celebrated series by Joachim Wtewael, depicting the revolt of the Northern Netherlands against the Habsburg rule of King Philip II of Spain. Fourteen compositions related to the series are known, all, except this one, in autograph versions and also replicas by followers of Wtewael.

The series of drawings revolves around a maiden (symbolising the Netherlands) and her dramatic changing fortunes at the hands of successive companions (mostly representing the Spanish). The scene depicted here, entitled The Petition, falls fairly early on in the narrative.  The composition illustrates the maiden kneeling down before a seated, well dressed lady, who is surrounded by a group of gentlemen, one of whom presents a scroll (a petition) on behalf of the maiden. The following drawing demonstrates that her appeal has failed as she is depicted lying on the ground being trampled on by a general. As Elizabeth McGrath remarks, ‘the whole plight of the heroine can be read in her gestures and attitudes as much as her physical condition.’¹

The intended function of Wtewael's Netherlands History drawings has been much debated. They were long considered to be designs for an unexecuted series of prints, but recently discovered documents confirm that the drawings were actually made as designs for glass paintings. The panels were commissioned in 1610 to adorn the first floor of the town hall of Woerden, where earlier that year important negotiations had taken place with the Spanish. The original glass panels no longer survive, but the building and the room with the sequence of windows in which the glass panels were installed remain to this day.

For a recent discussion of this fascinating series, see W.W. Robinson, loc.cit., under no. 100 and for a full discussion of the iconography of the series, see Elizabeth McGrath’s article of 1975 (loc. cit.). 

^1. McGrath, op cit., p. 183