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Bartholomeus Eggers (copy after)
Bust of Johan Maurits, Count of Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679)
Count Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen – for whom the Mauritshuis was built – commissioned this bust from Bartholomeus Eggers in 1664. It was intended for the garden of the Mauritshuis, but the count had it moved to his tomb in Siegen. What you see here is a copy.
Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen spent several years as governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil. He brought good government to the colony and got artists and scientists to study the new world. But Johan Maurits was also the man responsible for drawing the Dutch into the international slavetrade. He managed that beslaved African men and women were put to work as slaves on the sugar plantations in Brazil.
Here Johan Maurits is shown wearing armour with shoulder pieces in the shape of elephant heads. These refer to the Order of the White Elephant, a prestiguous honour bestowed on him by the King of Denmark.
