‘Les meilleures architectes du roi’. Een onbekende brief uit 1628 over de vroege bouwperiode van het Huis Honselaarsdijk

• Main Author: Alexander Dencher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KNOB 2016-06-01
• Series: Bulletin KNOB
• Online Access: https://bulletin.knob.nl/index.php/knob/article/view/104

This article examines a recently discovered letter written to Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik of Orange by his French agent Nicolas Tassin in 1628 concerning the improvement of the palace and gardens of Honselaarsdijk in the Netherlands. Although Frederik Hendrik had already started renovating his estate in 1621 there is very little information about the period between 1621 and 1633. The 1628 letter is therefore a rare and valuable source for the early phase of Honselaarsdijk’s history.  With his letter, Tassin enclosed a ground plan for a redesign of Honselaarsdijk made according to the advice of the ‘best architects of the king’ [of France]. This confirms the hypothesis that French architects were involved in the design of Honselaarsdijk from an early stage. Although the 1628 ground plan did not survive, Tassin’s description of the plan suggested changes to the building, which were duly carried out by Pieter Post from 1646 onwards (figs. 4, 5, 8).  Unfortunately, the letter does not mention the names of the ‘best architects of the king’ Tassin had consulted in France. It is, however, most likely that one of those French architects was Jacques Lemercier. Lemercier can be linked to two other Frenchmen who later worked for Frederik Hendrik: the master mason and architect Simon de la Vallée and the gardener André Mollet, who worked at the same time on one of Lemercier’s court commissions. De la Vallée and André Mollet both started to work for Frederik Hendrik in 1633. The 1628 letter reveals another interesting connection between France and the court of the stadtholder: Tassin had approached Jacques Boyceau de la Baraudière to design parterres for the gardens at Honselaarsdijk. This confirms the hypothesis that the celebrated gardener contributed to Honselaarsdijk’s gardens before the arrival of Claude Mollet in 1633. Although further details are lacking (such as Frederik Hendrik’s response and both previous and subsequent correspondence on these matters), the letter is an important early record of Frederik Hendrik’s royal ambitions as architectural patron.