Pieter de Graeff (15 August 1638 – 3 June 1707) was a Dutch aristocrat of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the most influential pro-state, republican Amsterdam Regents during the late 1660s and the early 1670s before the Rampjaar 1672. As president-bewindhebber of the Dutch East India Company, he was one of the most important representatives and leaders of the same after the Rampjaar.
De Graeff's political stance was characteristic of his family, on the one hand libertine and 'state oriented', republican on the other hand, if only partially, loyal to the House of Orange, the royalists. He held the titles as Free Lord of Zuid-Polsbroek and 19.th Free Lord of Ilpendam and Purmerland. De Graeff was in intimate contact with the statesmen Johan de Witt and Willem III of Orange, the painter Jan Lievens and the poet Joost van den Vondel.
Contents
Biography
Family De Graeff
Pieter de Graeff was a son of the Amsterdam regent and statesman Cornelis de Graeff and Catharina Hooft and older brother of Jacob de Graeff. The De Graeff family belonged to the ruling states oriented patriciate of the province of Holland. Both Pieter's father and his uncle Andries de Graeff were critical of the Orange family's influence. Together with the Republican political leader Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, the De Graeff family strived for the abolition of stadtholderships, but also try to keep a good relationship with them and their sympathizers. They desired the full sovereignty of the individual regions in a form in which the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was not ruled by a single person. Instead of a sovereign (or stadtholder) the political and military power was lodged with the States General and with the regents of the cities in Holland.
During the two decades the De Graeff family had a leading role in the Amsterdam administration, the city was at the peak of its political power. This period was also referred to by Republicans as the ‘Ware Vrijheid’ (True Freedom). It was the First Stadtholderless Period which lasted from 1650 to 1672. During these twenty years, the regents from Holland and in particular those of Amsterdam, controlled the republic. The city was flush with self-confidence and liked to compare itself to the famous Republic of Rome. Even without a stadtholder, things seemed to be going well for the Republic and its regents both politically and economically.
Coat of arms
Pieter de Graeff's coat of arms of origin was quartered and showed the following symbols:
field 1 (left above) the silver shovel on a red background of their paternal ancestors, the Herren von Graben
field 2 (right above) it shows a silver falcon on a blue background. The origin of the falcon lies in the possession of the Valckeveen estate (later the Valckenburg estate) in Gooiland
field 3 (left below), same as field 2
field 4 (right below), same as field 1
helmet covers in red and silver
helm adornment shows an upright silver spade with ostrich feathers (Herren von Graben)
motto: MORS SCEPTRA LIGONIBUS AEQUAT (DEATH MAKES SEPTRES AND HOES EQUAL)
The personal coat of arms of Pieter de Graeff of 1664 is quarterd with a heart shield and shows the following symbols:
heart shield shows the three silver rhombuses on red (originally from the family Van Woerdern van Vliet) of the High Lordship Zuid-Polsbroek
field 1 (left above) shows the silver shovel on red of their paternal ancestors, the Herren von Graben
field 2 (right above) shows the silver swan on blue of the Fief Vredenhof [or that one (Waterland) of their maternal ancestors, the De Grebber family
field 3 (left below), same as field 2
field 4 (right below), same as field 1
Early years, marriage and offspring
In his youth, Pieter enjoyed education and private tuition from Johann Amos who, who provided him with an important educational basis. In 1652 his father Cornelis de Graeff had his wife Catharina and their two sons Pieter and Jacob portrayed by Jan Victors as Isaac and Rebecca with their sons Jacob and Esau. This allegorical work and De Graeff's portrayal as one of the patriarchs of a people and his wife and children should underscore its importance. In 1655, De Graeff went together with Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen and his eldest son Joan on a diplomatic mission to Prince-elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, to look for support against the war with Sweden.
During the summers the family spent a lot of their time at the Palace Soestdijk, and in 1660 the brothers Pieter and Jacob played with the young William III of Orange, later King of England, Scotland and Ireland and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, at the lake and woods at Soestdijk.
After De Graeff did a Grand Tour through France and England, he married his niece Jacoba Bicker, sister of Wendela Bicker, who married Grand pensionary Johan de Witt. The protagonists of the patriciate were closely related, and the couple Pieter and Jacoba were also cousins of the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt. Pieter's brothers-in-law also included high official Gerard Bicker (I) van Swieten, arms dealer Jacob Trip and banker and financier Jean Deutz, all important and loyal political allies of Grand pensionary De Witt. At their wedding at Ilpenstein Castle, De Witt gave the wedding speech. The poets Gerard Brandt, Jan Vos and Joost van den Vondel, who were present "sang about" this wedding. The couple had three children:
Agneta de Graeff (1663–1725), married Jan Baptiste de Hochepied II (1669–1709), deputy to the General Accounting Chamberlain. She owned the cityhouse "Korte Vijverberg 3" in The Hague, the current cabinet of the king and at her death she had a fortune of 867,000 guilders, of which she left 525,000 guilders to her cousin Gerard Bicker (II) van Swieten. Jan Baptiste was an uncle of Elbert de Hochepied, 2nd Baron de Hochepied, Dutch politician and diplomat
Cornelis de Graeff (1671–1719), Free Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, canon in the cathedral chapter of St. Pieter in Utrecht
Career
In 1662, Pieter de Graeff became a member of the vroedschap of the City of Amsterdam. In 1664, after the death of his father Cornelis, he succeeded him as free lord of Zuid-Polsbroek and became a chief administrator of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). He was very interested in agriculture, which he was able to follow eagerly as wind lifter of the VOC and as landlord. During the 1660s De Graeff became one of the guardians of prince William III of Orange.
De Graeff was also an advisor and a close friend to his brother-in-law Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt. The relationship between the two is described as very good and intimate. The two shared an intensive correspondence. Some letters between the two deal with the upbringing of the young William of Orange, the child of state. When De Graeff's sister-in-law and cousin Wendela Bicker died in 1668, he and his brother-in-law Jean Deutz were appointed guardians of their nephews and nieces and were responsible for handling the estate. In the early 1670s, under the influence of the orangist burgomasters Gillis Valckenier and Coenraad van Beuningen, an anti-De Witt faction crystallized in the Amsterdam city government. During the course of 1671, the Republican State Party, led by Pieter de Graeff, regained the upper hand in the Amsterdam city government. For a brief time it looked as if De Witt's republican system might be consolidated.
In the Rampjaar 1672, Louis XIV of France conquered large areas of the Dutch Republic. In order to protect the province of Holland, the States General had the dikes pierced and the sluices opened, flooding parts of the country. Although this stopped the advance of France, large areas of the country were devastated, which the population generally blamed on Johan de Witt. After the unsuccessful assassination attempt on De Witt on June 21 by Jacob van der Graeff, he was convalescent for a long time. During this time, Pieter de Graeff had two of his children with him. In a letter to De Witt, he emphasizes that there is no hurry, as he finds the children's company very pleasant. Since De Witt no longer saw any political prospects for himself after William of Orange was appointed stadholder of Holland, he resigned on August 4 as Grand Pensionary of Holland and West Friesland. At the beginning of September, the republican and Wittian (Johan de Witt) faction De Graeff, including Pieter, his brother Jacob, their uncles old-burgomaster Andries de Graeff and burgomaster Lambert Reynst, was expelled from the Amsterdam government. With the raise of the House of Orange and Gillis Valckenier at Amsterdam, the De Graeff family had no longer the chance to keep their power through Amsterdam and Holland. On August 20, the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt were murdered in the most horrible manner in The Hague by a crowd of Orange-minded people. After De Witts death he became the guardian over his five children, including Johan de Witt Jr. Here De Graeff benefited from his upbringing and pedagogical knowledge, which he received from Comenius in his youth. His diary entries show that they were well taken care of.
Art and lifestyle
Like his father Cornelis and his uncle Andries, Pieter de Graeff was also a man who surrounded himself with art and beauty. His estate contains several paintings depicting him at different stages of his life. He was painted by Gerard ter Borch, Jan Lievens Caspar Netscher and Wallerant Vaillant, Govert Flinck and like his brother Jacob by Karel Dujardin There are also three group portraits with his parents and close relatives. The first dates from 1652 and was painted by Jan Victors. It shows them as the biblical characters Archfather Isaac and Rebecca and their children Esau and Jacob. The second one, The Arrival of Cornelis de Graeff and Members of His Family at Soestdijk, His Country Estate by Jacob van Ruisdael and Thomas de Keyser shows him and his brother Jacob on their horses driving up with his parents and his uncles Willem Schrijver, Pieter Trip and Andries de Graeff in front of his father's country estate Soestdijk. In 1678, De Graeff was immortalized with his wife Jacoba Bicker and their daughter Agneta de Graeff by Emanuel de Witte in the painting Portrait of a Family in an Interior. C. W. Fock of the University of Leiden describes in her work – Het stempel van de bewoner – Pieter de Graeffs patronage, art-collection and lifestyle. In 2007, Austrian artist Matthias Laurenz Gräff, a distant descendant of De Graeff, used Netscher's painting of Pieter in his painting "Ahnenfolge" (Ancestral Succession/Ancestry) as part of his diploma series.
He stand also in close correspondence to his brother-in-law Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, ambassador Jacob Boreel, poet Joost van den Vondel, painter Jan Lievens, mathematician, astronomer and physicist Christiaan Huygens as well as to polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Pieter de Graeff lived in the cityhouse at Amsterdam's Herengracht No. 573, today's Tassenmuseum Hendrikje, the country estates Valkenburg, Vogelsang and Bronstee, and Ilpenstein Castle. Valkenburg (the former estate Valckeveen of his grandfather Dirck Jansz Graeff) near Heemstede, acquired Pieter, his uncle Andries de Graeff and his cousin and brother-in-law Gerard Bicker (I) van Swieten in 1675 in equal shares from his aunt Christina de Graeff (1609–1679). From 1685 Pieter was the sole owner. In his diaries he made several notes on negotiations and payments from his possessions. He encountered some problems with the famous graphical artist Romeyn de Hooghe, who was going to draw an artistic map of Valkenburg. Besides he had some maps coloured by the artist David Reerigh, who also coloured several maps of the Hoogheemraadschap of Rijnland of 1687.