De wereld van Johan de Witt

Who was Johan de Witt? In the 400th year of this famous council pensioner’s birth, Dordrechts Museum sheds new light on his work and life. Through paintings from European collections and new insights from correspondence, you enter his world.

Johan de Witt is known as an advisory pensionary who made decisions for the Dutch Republic that still have an impact today. In art, De Witt was seen as a swan protecting its nest. Now we also get to know him as a bon vivant, husband, father, brother and son. He learned to dance in the French town of Angers, had to cope with the loss of his wife and children, and survived an assassination attempt before being lynched in The Hague in 1672.

Cover image: Jan Asselijn, De bedreigde Zwaan, Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam