Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

i. The curriculum – erudition from father to sons
Constantijn Sr.’s sons received a very broad educational program. They were taught
rhetoric and logic; several modern languages: French, Dutch, English, Italian; the classical
languages: Latin and Greek; calligraphy, drawing and painting; singing, dancing, acting and
playing instruments; music(theory), mathematics and natural philosophy. 184 Furthermore,
Constantijn Sr. regarded different sports as important parts of his sons’ education: ice-skating,
riding horseback, running, fencing, hunting and swimming. 185 Constantijn Sr., just like his
father Christiaan Sr., put extra emphasis on the art of writing, teaching it to his boys himself.
“[E]veryone mastering this skill well, could, under all living conditions, be sure of at least a
modest livelihood.” 186 Moreover, it is unclear whether the list of languages is complete; in 1649
Constantijn Sr. wrote to Hendrik, Count of Nassau-Siegen in a letter of recommendation for
his son Christiaan Jr. (see Chapter VI, section i) that Christiaan was not just very well trained
in law, music, painting, mathematics, French, Latin and Greek, but also in Hebrew, Syrian
and Chaldaic. 187 Perhaps some exaggeration may have nurtured these statements, for there will
have been few people with the ability to verify their truth, in particular those concerning
Christiaan Jr.’s mastering of Syrian and Chaldaic.
Constantijn Sr.’s sons received their lessons at home from private teachers and from
their father. Constantijn Sr. thought classes were too big at the public schools 188 and he
repeatedly complained that the average schoolteacher taught pupils to dislike learning and
ventilated his opinion that corporeal punishment of pupils was intolerable. Education should
be enjoyable and thus he tried to find ways (like his father, Christiaan Sr., had done too) to
184 HUYGENS, C. & HEESAKKERS, C. L. (1987) Mijn jeugd, Amsterdam, Querido., p138. Natural
philosophy had not formed a part of Christiaan Sr.’s curriculum for his son Constantijn Sr.; the latter
brought this in the program. BACHRACH, A. G. H. (1980) The role of the Huygens family in
seventeenth-century Dutch culture. IN BOS, H. J. M., RUDWICK, M. J. S., SNELDERS, H. A. M.
& VISSER, R. P. W. (Eds.) Studies on Christiaan Huygens : invited papers from the Symposium on the Life and
Work of Christiaan Huygens, Amsterdam, 22-25 August 1979. Lisse, Swets & Zeitlinger., p40-1. For more on
Constantijn Sr.’s own specific interests in natural philosophy, please see: MATTHEY, I. (1973) De
Betekenis van de Natuur en de Natuurwetenschappen voor Constantijn Huygens. IN BOTS, H. (Ed.)
Constantijn Huygens. Zijn plaats in geleerd Europa. Amsterdam, University Press Amsterdam.
185 HOFMAN, H. A. (1983) Constantine Huygens (1596-1687) : a christian-humanist bourgeois-gentilhomme in
service of the House of Orange, Utrecht, HES Uitgevers., p34
186 HUYGENS, C. & HEESAKKERS, C. L. (1987) Mijn jeugd, Amsterdam, Querido., p27
187 HUYGENS, C. (1888) OC., Vol. XXII, Lett. XXVIII (Oct. 9, 1649). “Ie ne dissimule pas,
Monseigneur, pour où il y pourroit auoir occasion d’en parler, que je donne ce Garçon pour tres-expert
non seulement en l’estude de droict, qu’il vient d’achever, mais aussi des langues Françoise, Latine,
Grecque, Hebraïque, Syriaque et Chaldaïque. Mathematicien au reste par eminence, et Musicien, et
Peintre; et pour conclusion du plus doux natural qui se puisse veoir. I’espere que vous trouuerez que ce
n’est pas la seule affection paternelle qui le dit, et prie qu’on ne l’importune pas de boire, ce qu’il
n’entend pas.” My translation.
188 HUYGENS, C. & HEESAKKERS, C. L. (1987) Mijn jeugd, Amsterdam, Querido., p137
58