382 - Jan Willem PIENEMAN (Abcoude, 1779–Amsterdam, 1853)

Jan Willem PIENEMAN (Abcoude, 1779–Amsterdam, 1853) Allegory of the Belgian Revolution of 1830. Oil on canvas, signed and dated “J. W. Pieneman February 1830.” H. 102 x W. 133 cm. Provenance - Private collection, Netherlands. - Private collection, Belgium. - Private collection, France. Exhibition List of works of art, assembled by artists and collectors, to be raffled off for the benefit of Het Vaderland, Amsterdam, National Court of Justice, Amsterdam, April–May 1831, no. 88. Background After the fall of the First Empire, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 united the predominantly Catholic Southern Netherlands—whose elites were largely French-speaking—with the Protestant, Dutch-speaking Northern Netherlands under the authority of William I of Orange. This union gave rise to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, conceived in particular as a buffer state against France. However, it quickly sparked discontent among part of the population in the southern provinces, who did not identify with the authority of the Dutch sovereign. In 1830, the July Revolution in Paris helped stoke revolutionary fervor in Belgium, fueled in particular by the French-language press. A popular uprising broke out in Brussels, while volunteers flocked from different regions of the country. After four days of fighting, Dutch troops withdrew from Brussels on the night of September 26–27. A provisional government was formed and proclaimed Belgium’s independence on October 4, 1830. These days, which led to the birth of the modern Belgian state, left a profound mark on the arts. Many Belgian painters then sought to immortalize this event, which laid the foundation for the new national identity. Examples include the drawing *Episode from the Revolution of 1830: The Siege of Antwerp* by François-Joseph Navez, held at the Royal Library of Belgium, or Gustave Wappers’ *Episode from the Days of September 1830 on the Town Hall Square in Brussels*, held at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (ill. 1). Rarer still are the Belgian artists who chose allegory to depict this historic moment, such as Adèle Kindt and her painting *The Revolution of 1830*. In a nebulous composition marked by Romanticism, she pays tribute to the union of determined volunteers and a population that is both frightened and combative, symbolized by a woman accompanied by her children (ill. 2). Although our work also depicts the Belgian revolt of 1830 in allegorical form, it offers a radically different interpretation. It stands as one of the particularly rare accounts of the Dutch reaction to the revolutionary events during the early days of Belgian independence. This painting was created by a Dutch artist closely associated with the reign of William I of Orange. Jan Willem Pieneman was born on November 4, 1779, in Abcoude, in the United Provinces. He quickly gained recognition for his works depicting major events in the history of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. He owes his fame in particular to a painting created in 1818, depicting the Prince of Orange at the Battle of Quatre-Bras. Building on this success, in 1824 he created a massive composition depicting the Battle of Waterloo (ill. 3), which was quickly acquired by the Dutch Crown Prince. Now housed at the Rijksmuseum, these two works attest to the artist’s close ties to the House of Orange and the Dutch government. These ties also enabled him to rise to the highest positions in the academic world. In 1820, he was appointed the first director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam (Koninklijke Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten), a position he held until his death. He also became deputy director of the Koninklijk Kabinet, now part of the Mauritshuis. A leading figure in Dutch painting of his time, the bulk of his body of work is now housed at the Rijksmuseum, an institution he directed from 1844 to 1847. It is in light of this loyalty to the Dutch government and his role within the kingdom’s art institutions that our painting must be examined. In response to the events of 1830 in Belgium, several Dutch artists, including Pieneman, put their art at the service of the Dutch cause. An exhibition of works gathered by artists and collectors was thus organized in Amsterdam in 1831, so that these works could be raffled off to benefit the fatherland. Among those presented by Pieneman is this painting, listed as number 88 in the catalog and described as follows: “History, accompanied by Time, who reminds her of the events that her pen records in the commemorative book”