Friends of the Castle of Freÿr / Meuse (Belgium)

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.