Henry Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, in a Battle

Henry Casimir II fought under his cousin, William III of Orange, as an officer in the army of the Dutch Republic. They were not always on good terms with one another. In 1674 Henry Casimir even defected to the French enemy, only to return in 1688. In the year that this portrait was painted, he hoped – in vain – to be promoted to the rank of ‘first field marshall’.