William the Silent
by ROYER, Lodewijk, Bronze
After moving to Amsterdam in 1837, Royer received many public commissions for statues of leading personalities from Dutch history, such as the statues of Rembrandt and Joost van den Vondel in Amsterdam, William the Silent in The Hague and Michiel de Ruyter in Vlissingen.
William I, Prince of Orange (1533-1584), also widely known as William the Silent or more commonly known as William of Orange, was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581.