Constantijn Huygens (I)

He was appointed secretary to the Dutch ruler Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, and later to his successors William II and III. Huygens accompanied the princes on their travels and advised them on their art purchases – he has even been described as the ‘discoverer’ of Rembrandt. Huygens had many interests and skills outside his working life. He was a musician, poet and scholar of architecture, and he felt very much at home as part of the Republic of Letters, the network of European intellectuals. He corresponded with fellow scholars René Descartes and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, for example. But Huygens felt most at home at Hofwijck, his self-designed mansion that still evokes his creative spirit.