The Tomb of William the Silent, New Church Delft, Hendrik Cornelisz. van Vliet

Exhibition Label: "Corpus," Apr-2012, Denise Giannino Hendrick van Vliet’s oblique view of the interior of the New Church, Delft confronts the viewer with the imposing presence of the monumental tomb of William the Silent. William the Silent, of the Royal House of Orange, was an important national figure who led the Dutch rebellion against Spanish oppression in 1568. After an assassin’s blade cut short his life in Delft in 1584, he gained the posthumous reputation of founding father among citizens of the newly formed Dutch Republic, whose sovereignty was officially recognized at the Treaty of Münster that ended the Eighty Years War in 1648. Van Vliet’s carefully crafted view of the tomb and other small, dark memorial tablets, which stand in stark contrast to the white washed interior of the Protestant church, encourage the modern viewer to identify with universal themes of death, mortality, and remembrance inherent in such motifs.