Elisabeth of Nassau

This child’s portrait in vertical format shows Elisabeth of Orange dressed in court attire. She stands to the right of a table with a green cloth on which a plate of cherries can be seen, as well as a pear and an apple. Elisabeth wears a floor-length dress with a red skirt and a red-and-white apron with decorative embroidery. Her long-sleeved blouse is white with a shiny gold ‘V’ pattern. A ruff covers her neck, and another one is placed in her hair. With her right hand Elisabeth touches the pear on the table, while in her left she holds a bunch of grapes. This portrait belongs to a series of individual portraits carried out for the House of Orange. Children were often depicted individually, and portraits of siblings were hung next to each other in a row using the same format. Court attire was common in the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century, a blend of Spanish, French and Dutch fashion. They were meant to give children the appearance of ‘small adults’.