Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

seen as a (great) poet – and thus a specialist 37 – but rather as a erudite man of the world. The
mechanics of court-culture shaped the way in which he would express his ideas about this. The
louder he would call himself a poet or even a good poet amidst of his network of courtiers and
intellectuals, the more he would risk being seen as a specialist, instead of an erudite honnête
homme. Instead, the best rhetorical strategy was probably that which he used – establishing
maximum recognition by denying to deserve any. That, in the course of his life, he had happened to
“spill” a Latin volume and thirty books of collected works in the Dutch language “out of his
pen” 38 in his spare time was a minor detail Huygens would mention laconically. Thus,
Huygens’s image would not be hurt by negative criticism, and he secured that he would be
seen as a courtly virtuoso who was not attached to the outcome of his work. In fact, of course,
he did care about the negative critique of “savants” – their “sharp teeth” he feared, 39 such that
in 1619, at the age of twenty-three, he rejoiced the fact that Prince Frederik Hendrik had read
some of his poems and that from then on his work would be judged by princes rather than
censured by his critics. 40
As a secretary (Constantijn Sr. was appointed secretary to the Stadholder in 1625)
with a broad correspondence network, Constantijn Sr. could choose his own public for his
poetry and music. He had his Pathodia Sacra et profana (1647) printed by a deluxe publisher in
Paris, distributing most of the copies himself amongst his friends within the Republic, but
especially elsewhere. 41 For instance, Huygens sent his Momenta Desultoria to the Queen of
Sweden and Poland and the French cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602 – 1661). 42 His books were
ornamented with introductory poems of his famous friends – Daniel Heinsius (1580 – 1655)
introduced Huygens’s Otia and Caspar Barlaeus his Momenta Desultoria. 43 The best distributive
strategy was donating his works as playful tokens of friendship and appreciation often to great
37 The courtier should avoid, to all costs, to be seen as a “specialist.” He distinguished himself by not
being attached to any subject in specific, neither in speaking, nor in writing. ELIAS, N. (1994) The
civilizing process, Oxford [England] ; Cambridge, Mass., Blackwell., p30
38 HUYGENS, C. & BLOM, F. R. E. (2003) Mijn leven verteld aan mijn kinderen in twee boeken (De vita
propria sermonum inter liberos), Amsterdam, Prometheus., p135
39 Constantijn Sr., in the preface of his De vita propria sermonum inter liberos (1678), told his children that:
“(…) not for the eyes of the great public did I mean this work to be, but solely for you. It is playfulness
that ought to stay within these walls, where all those savants have nothing to say, whom I otherwise
surely feared for their sharp teeth; I know my shortcomings.” Ibid., I, p63
40 See note 25
41 HUYGENS, C. & BLOM, F. R. E. (2003) Mijn leven verteld aan mijn kinderen in twee boeken (De vita
propria sermonum inter liberos), Amsterdam, Prometheus., p8
42 HUYGENS, C. (1911) BW., Vol. V, No. 5423 – Constantijn Sr. to the Queen of Sweden (Aug. 19,
1655). HUYGENS, C. (1911) BW., Vol. IV, Introduction, vii
43 HUYGENS, C. & BLOM, F. R. E. (2003) Mijn leven verteld aan mijn kinderen in twee boeken (De vita
propria sermonum inter liberos), Amsterdam, Prometheus., p8
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