Mary Stuart, Princess of Orange, as Widow of William II, Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1652
oil on canvas, h 199.5cm × w 170cm More details
Princess of Orange Mary Stuart I is dressed in white, the traditional colour of mourning for a noble. Her husband, Stadholder William II, had died two years earlier. Mary was keen to secure the succession of her very young son. This portrait alludes to that claim to stadtholdership: she holds an orange, symbolizing the House of Orange. At the left is depicted the Stadtholders’ Gate of the Binnenhof (Inner Court) in The Hague.
