The Threatened Swan

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Jan Asselijn, ca. 1650
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

It is an unusual occurrence in art when a painting is given a different meaning after the death of the artist, contrary to his original intentions, and owes its fame to that. This is exactly what happened to Jan Asselijn’s The Threatened Swan. The large canvas is almost entirely filled up by a terrified swan spreading its wings, protecting her eggs from the dog that is sneaking up from the water. Technical analysis has proven that it was after Asselijn’s death that three inscriptions were added, which ultimately transformed this animal painting into a political allegory. The words between the swan’s legs read ‘DE RAAD-PENSIONARIS’ (The Councillor), ‘HOLLAND’ is written on one of the eggs, and ‘DE VIAND VAN DE STAAT’ (The Enemy of the City) above the dog. These inscriptions identify the swan with Johan de Witt (‘wit’ is white in Dutch), one of the leading politicians of seventeenth-century Holland, who defends the Republic from the enemy represented by the dog. The Threatened Swan was one of the Rijksmuseum’s first purchases in 1800, and it has since been primarily exhibited in the Gallery of Honor.

— Júlia Tátrai, Head of the Department of Old Master Paintings, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest