Embroidered Picture of Claudius Civilis by Louise van Ommeren 1800 Rijksmuseum

"The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses an embroidered picture (21.9 x 19.5 cm) with an allegorical representation of Claudius Civilis (Gaius Julius Civilis), the reputed leader of a revolt by the Batavians against the Romans in the first century AD. The Batavians were long regarded as the ancestors of the Dutch (compare the name of Batavia for the former capital of the Dutch East Indies, nowadays called Jakarta).

The embroidery was made by Louise van Ommeren, née Hengevelt, sometime around 1800. The picture shows a Batavian (Batavier in Dutch) clad in fur who is being honoured by a personification of Freedom. She holds a laurel wreath with her left hand, and a lance with a 'freedom hat' with her right hand. To the left is another figure,  who is positioned kneeling next to a basket full of flowers and fruit, symbolising the cornucopia.

The embroidery can be placed in the context of the social and political upheavals in The Netherlands at the end of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, when the patriotten ('patriots') rose against the establishment led by Prince Willem V of the House of Orange. The new republic that was established in 1795, when the French had invaded and occupied the Netherlands and the patriotten for a short time gained the upper hand, was renamed De Bataafsche Republiek ('The Batavian Republic'), after the alleged ancestors of the Dutch. The new Republic lasted until 1801, when the constitution, under French pressure, was changed and the country was renamed Het Bataafsch Gemeenebest ('The Batavian Commonwealth'). In 1806 The Netherlands were made into a monarchy; the first king was Louis Napoleon, younger brother of Napoleon and the father of the future Napoleon III.

The picture is accompanied by an embroidered text on a separate piece of material, applied to the embroidered picture: 

Hij schonk voor altoos aan ons vaderlijk gewest / Den grooten eernaam van een vrij gemeenebest ('He granted for ever to our fatherland, the grand honourable name of a free commonwealth')."

-taken from trc-leiden.nl link below

Embroidered Picture of Claudius Civilis by Louise van Ommeren 1800. Current location: Rijksmuseum.

Source:

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/484418503650966689/


Quote:

https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/individual-textiles-and-textile-types/secular-representations/embroidered-picture-of-claudius-civilis-c-1800