Ellinoor Bergvelt
Department History of European Culture, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Download article![](/images/PDF_24.png)
Published in: NaMu; Making National Museums Program; Setting the Frames; 26-28 February; Norrköping; Sweden
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 22:4, p. 29–48
Published: 2007-09-19
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
I Although 19th-century national museums are supposed to be part of identity politics of the European nation-states; this was not the case in the Netherlands and Great Britain; at least not in the early part of the 19th century. Surprisingly; William I; the first king of the House of Orange-Nassau (1815-1840); never used art museums as part of his politics to unify his nation (consisting of the Northern and Southern Netherlands; nowadays the Netherlands; Belgium and Luxemburg): there existed municipal art museums in Antwerp and Brussels; and two (!); national art museums in the Northern part of the country; i.e. ‘s Rijks Museum (= National Museum; Amsterdam) and the Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen (= Royal Cabinet of Paintings; The Hague); also known as the Mauritshuis. No “master narrative” was told; nor had one location been chosen to do so. Also in Great Britain the possibilities of a national art gallery were not fully used. It was only after the reorganization of the National Gallery in 1855 that a clear policy was formulated. Protestantism might be one of the explanations for the “backwardness” of the British and Dutch art museums; compared to those in other countries.