2-976-254 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Willem III (1650-1702), Prince of Orange, as a Child, 1654. Other Title(s): Portrait of Willem III (1650-1702), Prince of Orange, as a Child, William III (1650-1702), Prince of Orange, as a Child. Willem III is shown with the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter, which was conferred on him in 1653 by his uncle Charles II of England, who was living in exile. Here he is holding an orange hanging on a small tree in an ornamental pot in a reference to the House of Orange. The thistles protruding from underneath his skirt also have a heraldic, dynastic connotation, for they are the symbol of the Stuart family to which Willem’s mother belonged.