Willem I, Prince of Nassau - Brussels, Belgium
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Metro2
N 50° 50.515 E 004° 21.465
31U E 595594 N 5633123
Willem I, Prince of Nassau was also known as William the Silent or William the Taciturn.
Waymark Code: WM1A9PV
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Date Posted: 07/12/2024
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This sculpture is located in the Musee Oldmasters in Brussels.
This life-sized French stone bust depicts Willem I wearing a blouse with and apparent cape and perhaps an ermine covering and also a high ruffled collar. He also has a pendant hanging from his neck.
The artist is Gilles-Lambert Godecharl and isa dated 1817.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"William the Silent or William the Taciturn (Dutch: Willem de Zwijger;24 April 1533 – 10 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (Dutch: Willem van Oranje), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. Born into the House of Nassau, he became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the Orange-Nassau branch and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he is also known as Father of the Fatherland (Latin: Pater Patriae; Dutch: Vader des Vaderlands).
A wealthy nobleman, William originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Unhappy with the centralisation of political power away from the local estates and with the Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants, William joined the Dutch uprising and turned against his former masters. The most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to several successes in the fight against the Spanish. Declared an outlaw by the Spanish king in 1580, he was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard in Delft in 1584."