Pre-1800 Antiques

Description

A quite exceptional and rare mid 19th century bronze sculpture of William The Silent Of Orange.

After the sculptor, Count Alfred Émilien O'Hara van Nieuwerkerke (Paris 1811 - Gattaiola 1892)

Emilien de Nieuwerkerke
(1811 – 1892) was a French sculptor of Dutch descent and a high-level civil servant in the Second French Empire.
In 1834, during a six month stay in Italy, he discovered and became passionate about ancient sculptures and decided to become a sculptor himself on returning to France. He took classes in the studios of Pradier and Carlo Marochetti. In 1843 he took the initiative to make a model for an equestrian statue of Willem of Orange. His design, submitted to Willem II, was so much appreciated that he got the commission to make the statue that was unveiled in The Hague in 1845.


William the Silent, also known as William the Taciturn, or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange, was the main leader of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581.


Measures 59cm high.


Provenance, private collection, UK Oxfordshire

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