Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

me that Christiaan devised the discussed “strategic” part all by himself. The hand of his father
to me seems omnipresent in the way in which Christiaan strategically used his father’s name,
applied clever dynastic connections in his dedication to Prince Leopold – a skill that his father,
as we have seen, mastered very well – and finally, it seems present in the way Christiaan
integrated uplifting poems and enhanced not just his own, but his family’s glory by sharing the
connection to the house of de Medici.
High social contacts, the finesses of communication and strategic publication – these
were factors in which Constantijn Sr. was of great help for his sons, for Christiaan Jr. in
particular. They also show that there was a decisively social dimension to the development of
Christiaan Jr.’s natural scientific career. This dimension forms the theme for Chapter VI, as
Christiaan Jr.’s movements at three different courts in Europe (London, Paris and The
Hague) are discussed, with a focus on the specific social surrounding in which Christiaan’s
work and endeavors were to take root.
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