They look down affably on the visitors to Paleis Het Loo, seven painted figures in Ottoman clothing on the walls of the grand staircase. It was not known for a long time why King Stadtholder William III (1650-1702) specifically chose them when furnishing his palace at the end of the seventeenth century, but a new exhibition reveals an old political significance.

“It’s actually a political masterpiece,” says art historian Razvan-Iulian Rusu, who spent years researching it. “Willem III used the big one stairs(opens in new window) as a visual diplomatic statement.”

“Such a staircase and the entire entourage are a calling card,” adds curator Hanna Klarenbeek of the palace museum. “All visitors came up those stairs when they met Willem in his apartments. It is therefore part of the royal reception and it prepares you for the person you are going to see later.”

Rulers often chose mythological allegories and illustrious victories from the past, but William deviated from this. No gods or generals here, but figures that could be dignitaries from a distant principality, with their turbans and Mediterranean background.

The figures, exotic for that time, were intended to emphasize that William’s influence reached far beyond his borders. As Dutch stadtholder and British king (through his marriage to Queen Mary), he was already a world-class leader, which was further strengthened by the good (trade) ties with the Ottoman Empire.

“We are of course dealing with geopolitics now, but that was no different in the 17th century,” Klarenbeek summarizes.

Designer Daniël Marot had copied the art from Versailles, the palace of William’s archrival Louis XIV. The exhibition includes a model of the now demolished Ambassador’s Stairs from that palace, which was also intended to impress visitors.

The difference is that where the French Sun King had all kinds of foreigners depicted for his greater honor and glory, William chose only one people, the Ottomans. A conscious decision, says Rusu.

The good ties with Constantinople were intended to convince Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire that he could better take on William against the French than his Great Turkish War(opens in new window) to continue.

Rusu: “It was a political chess game. As a neutral power, William wanted to mediate between the emperor and the sultan. Not only out of goodwill, but also because he needed Leopold’s support. If the emperor waged war on two fronts, this played into Louis XIV’s hands. In other words, self-interest.”

The art of diplomacy was not decisive in these machinations. “You can’t win a war with a mural alone,” laughs Rusu. “The political maneuver that Willem had in mind ultimately did not work.”

Leopold and he first made peace with Louis, after which the Great Turkish War also ended a few years later. “William was eventually recognized as king of England by Louis

Because the political game was over, the significance of the mural became increasingly forgotten. When it also started to flake off, Louis Napoleon decided to paint the stairwell completely white during the French occupation in the early 19th century. It only reappeared almost a century later when Queen Wilhelmina restored the palace to its old style.

Because the original mural was severely damaged, the restorers decided to reconstruct it on canvas. At 550 square meters, it is the second largest painting in our country . The new exhibition is also the start of its restoration, under the public eye.