Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

the latter Frederik van Nassau-Zuilestein and Prince Willem II’s son and successor, Willem
III during the Stadholderless period. 194
ii. “Survivance” through judgment, style & standing
The curriculum bespeaks certain social and professional ambitions that were
complemented by Constantijn Sr.’s way of writing about it. Making music, to begin with, for
Constantijn Sr. was not just a matter of playing an instrument. Singing “to the accompaniment
of the viola” had to be performed “reading at sight and in fine style,” as prescribed by
Baldassare Castiglione for his perfect Courtier. 195 The same could be said about doing sports –
the right composure and style while pursuing sportive activity was just as important for
Constantijn Sr. as was the sport itself. Christiaan Sr., according to his son Constantijn Sr., had
“observed the manners ‘deemed proper for young people of rank’ [at the Court of Orange] and
had apparently decided ‘to put this behaviour into practice at home with his children.’” 196
While swimming, ice-skating, horse riding, dancing and fencing, it was essential that the young
Huygens kept an upright posture – “one of the most important requirements [for] well-
mannered people.” 197 Constantijn Sr. even decided that his oldest son, Constantijn Jr., while
still a young boy, had to have surgery due to his slightly leaning head. As upright posture was
194 POELHEKKE, J. J. (1973) Ludiek met Constantijn Huygens : voordracht gehouden te Nijmegen op 15
Februari 1973, Amsterdam, University Press., p146; MÖRKE, O. (1997) The Orange Court as a Centre
of Political and Social Life during the Republic IN KEBLUSEK, M., ZIJLMANS, J. & MUSEUM,
H. H. (Eds.) Princely display: the court of Frederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia van Solms. The Hague;
Zwolle, Historical Museum; Waanders., p63
195 CASTIGLIONE, B. & JAVITCH, D. (2002a) The book of the courtier : the Singleton translation : an
authoritative text, criticism, New York, W.W. Norton., quotes from p55, 76. Huygens indicates in his
HUYGENS, C. & HEESAKKERS, C. L. (1987) Mijn jeugd, Amsterdam, Querido., p30, that when it
came to playing the lute, he had “mastered his teacher even before the two years altogether had passed,
during which he had lessons. In the first place, one could hardly show me a score that I couldn’t play
immediately. Secondly (something that occurs less often but for that reason deserves all the more
appreciation) I didn’t normally play pieces that I had learned to dislike through practice, but with
success I let my own ability and improvisation skills do the work. Thus I performed music that no one
had ever heard and that whirled up from myself without any effort.” My translation.
196 ROODENBURG, H. (1997) How to Sit, Stand, and Walk. Toward a Historical Anthropology of
Dutch Paintings and Prints. IN FRANITS, W. E. (Ed.) Looking at seventeenth-century Dutch art : realism
reconsidered. Cambridge [England] ; New York, Cambridge University Press., p177-8 with quotes from:
HUYGENS, C. & HEESAKKERS, C. L. (1987) Mijn jeugd, Amsterdam, Querido., p24-32. “[Gesture]
has always been an important ingredient in social differentiation. (...) Aspiring groups have long used
distinctive modes of bodily comportment as a means of setting themselves apart from their inferiors."
THOMAS, K. (1991) Introduction. IN BREMMER, J. N. & ROODENBURG, H. (Eds.) A Cultural
history of gesture : from antiquity to the present day. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press., p7.
197 ROODENBURG, H. (1997) How to Sit, Stand, and Walk. Toward a Historical Anthropology of
Dutch Paintings and Prints. IN FRANITS, W. E. (Ed.) Looking at seventeenth-century Dutch art : realism
reconsidered. Cambridge [England] ; New York, Cambridge University Press., p176
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