Friends of the Castle of Freÿr / Meuse (Belgium)
pages
<=
=>
next
start up
-
@ 5 sec
+
4/29
photos
?
Rear Facade and Lower Garden at Het Loo Palace
-
Het Loo displays a less imposing exterior than Versailles,
and is in line with the style of other Dutch historic houses of that time (Zeist, Middachten, Hemstede, ...).
-
If the interior of Het Loo is much more adorned than its exterior,
nevertheless many floors are made of oak planks, while certain wooden ceilings are simply painted:
unthinkable in Versailles.
-
Even if the king's and queen's rooms at Het Loo are royal,
they still keep a sense of intimacy not to be found in Versailles.
-
This relative simplicity can be traced to the regular reading of Scripture,
mandatory for every lay person in the Reformed Church,
but practiced mostly by a minority, the clergy in the Catholic Church.
-
This rumination of Scripture induced in the Dutch nation a deep sense of interiority,
very much present in its paintings: mystical in Rembrandt's biblical scenes,
contemplative in Vermeer's daily life scenes and serene in Ruisdael's and Goyen's landscapes
-
All these characteristics are also perceivable up to a certain degree in Dutch houses and gardens.
Photo : A. B. de L.