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Original fileOn the left, the personification of Belgica stands beneath an oak tree adorned with provincial shields, surrounded by Mercury and figures representing the Seven Liberal Arts. To the right, Prince Maurice of Orange leads a hunting party on horseback, a metaphor for military vigilance and the defense of the state. The background features a detailed landscape showing maritime trade, systematic agriculture, and urban expansion.
The work reflects the late Renaissance Neoplatonic ideal of a harmonious state where the active life (military leadership) and the contemplative life (the Liberal Arts) are balanced to create a prosperous 'microcosm.' It highlights the intellectual climate of the Haarlem Mannerists, who used complex allegorical programs to frame political autonomy as a divine and natural order.
EMBLEMA. HODIERNI. RERUM. STATUS. IN. BELGICA. FOEDERATA. Saenredam invet. et sculp. Virgo augusta, vivida, et speciosa; consistens editiore loco; sub arbo: rum umbra, quibus foederatarum Regionum insignia BELGII... Circumsidens vero, septem artium Liberalium, Corona, qui: bus octavus, inter arbusta, accedit Mercurius; vigentia Literarum, et Mercaturae studia designat. Subiecta autem, sinistro sum a ter: planities, Agriculturam interturba: tam; operas seiventes, Mercaturam prosperam, Navigationes longin: quas, Urbium incrementa, et qua Alia sunt huius generis, Luculenter exhibet. Bellum vero ipsum, Venatu comparatur; Equo lœdux noster atq' Nemrod, Nassovius, cum socia Pallade; prœdam ingentem, fœderata Belgica, per manus Victoriae, asserendam curat. Haec Tabula summa est. AMSTELODAMI Excedebat Hermannus Alardi ANNO A CHRISTO NATO CIƆ. IƆ. C. II.
Translation
EMBLEM. OF THE PRESENT. STATE OF AFFAIRS. IN. THE UNITED. NETHERLANDS. Saenredam invenit et sculpsit. An august, vivid, and beautiful maiden, standing in an elevated place, under the shade of trees upon which are the arms of the united Regions of BELGIUM... Seated around her, indeed, are a crown of the seven Liberal Arts, to which an eighth, Mercury, is added among the shrubs; he designates the flourishing pursuits of Letters and Commerce. Below, however, to the left from the back: a plain clearly exhibits Agriculture, though disturbed; laborers sowing, prosperous Commerce, long voyages, the growth of cities, and whatever other things are of this kind. War itself, however, is compared to the hunt; our leader and Nimrod, the Nassovian, on horseback, together with his ally Pallas, ensures that the great prize, the united Netherlands, is secured through the hands of Victory. This is the sum of the picture. AMSTERDAM. Published by Hermannus Alardi IN THE YEAR OF CHRIST’S BIRTH 1602.
Simon Stevin
As the tutor and military engineer for Prince Maurice, Stevin's synthesis of mathematics, navigation, and statecraft is visually echoed in the print's focus on the Liberal Arts and technology.
Object
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
3743 × 2873 px
4bbad46fe696e0b3b19be242614ea665c381bb15
December 29, 2017
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.