Sculpted in the round. Apart from a solid central support, the back has been hollowed out as far as the shoulders.

There is some discolouration and slight damage in places.

…; collection King William I of the Netherlands (1772-1843), The Hague, date unknown; by inheritance to Queen Juliana (1909-2004) of the Netherlands; from whose heirs on loan to the museum, through the Dienst voor ’s Rijks Verspreide Kunstvoorwerpen, The Hague, since 1967

Object number: BK-1967-21

Credit line: On loan from the Koninklijke Verzamelingen

According to the inscription on the back, this marble bust was carved by Louis Royer (1793-1868) ‘after a Greek girl’ (d’apres une Grecque). The girl’s plaits and headwear (a cap with a scarf wound round it) give her an innocent and countryfied look. In the nineteenth century, the portrayal of what, in the eyes of romantic artists, were idyllic common people from other cultures, held great appeal. Although they did indeed occasionally encounter such types in real life during their travels abroad, artists happily indulged in fantasies about them, seeking inspiration in literary or historical figures. Famous men or women were sometimes even portrayed in the guise of such a personage, thus creating an interplay with several identities. That was also the case with Frans Stracké’s Sarah bust (BK-15438), which is probably a depiction of the French actress Sarah Bernardt as a gypsy or as the wife of Abraham in the Bible (Sara[h], the patron saint of gypsies). In addition, that bust might have been a playful reference to Stracké’s own wife, who was also called Sara.

The bust of a Greek girl is one of Royer’s few works reflecting a romantic view. Normally this sculptor, the designer of a series of well-known public statues, like that of Rembrandt in the Amsterdam square with that name (cf. BK-NM-9001), actually worked in the classical or historicizing tradition. The marble, dated 1833, was shown that same year at the exhibition of living masters in The Hague and was then acquired by none other than King William I (1772-1843).¹¹Lijst der schilder en kunstwerken, van nog in leven zijnde Noord-Nederlandsche meesters, welke zijn toegelaten tot de tentoonstelling te ’s Gravenhage, exh. cat. The Hague 1833, p. 23 no. 223: een Grieksch Meisje, buste in marmer. That is remarkable, since two other romantically orientated sculptures by Royer – the alabaster groups Paul et Virginie and La Veuve du Soldat – had in common with the bust that they came about in the same year (1833) and at some time were also added to the royal collection.²²P.K. van Daalen, Nederlandse beeldhouwers in de negentiende eeuw, The Hague 1957, nos. 49(1) en 55. This procedure suggests that Royer might have created the works specially in this style, with the intention of appealing to the king’s own taste. That did perhaps contribute to the fact that, three years later, after the sculptors Paulus Joseph Gabriël (1784-1833) and Gilles-Lambert Godecharle (1750-1835) passed away, he was permitted to use the title of royal sculptor.³³G. van den Hout and E. Langendijk (eds.), Louis Royer 1793-1868: Een Vlaamse beeldhouwer in Amsterdam, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Amstelkring) 1994, pp. 21-22.

As Langendijk suggested, it is quite possible that, with his sculpture, Royer wished to allude to the (successful) Greek struggle for independence from the Turks from 1821 to 1832.⁴⁴E. Langendijk, unpublished manuscript 2001, n.p., in Artist File Louis Royer, RMA. At that time the Netherlands was on extremely good terms with Greece. The Greeks had even put forward William’s second son, Prince Frederick, three times, in 1829, 1830 and 1831, as a candidate for the Greek throne: an offer that the Prince turned down each time, however. The sale catalogue of Royer’s estate mentions three similar plaster sculptures, one of which is dated 1830, and, like the marble, bears the inscription d’apres une Grecque.⁵⁵Sale, collection Louis Royer (1793-1868), Amsterdam (Roos), 17-19 November 1868, nos. 208-210. This plaster presumably served as a model for the marble version. Be it as it may, the idea for a bust with this theme apparently already existed in 1830, when the Greek war of independence was still well underway.

Bieke van der Mark, 2026

J.A. Alberdingk Thijm, Over nieuwere beeldhouwkunst, vooral in Nederland, Rotterdam 1886, p. 23; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 448, with earlier literature; F. Scholten, Gebeeldhouwde portretten/Portrait Sculptures, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1995, p. 35

B. van der Mark, 2026, 'Louis Royer, Bust of a Greek Girl, Netherlands, 1833', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035881