Bilderdijk’s right eye

Bilderdijk looks right at us. He made this painting himself. Where he learned the technique of miniature painting is unknown.

When Bilderdijk was banned from the Netherlands in 1795, he left his wife and children behind. Even though he had already thrown himself into the arms of another, much younger, woman quite a while ago and lived with her in Germany, he wrote to his first wife asking him to join him. We don't know what he was thinking. Was he hoping she would refuse and that he could use her letter as legal evidence in the event of a divorce? He may have made this miniature painting of his right eye during this time, which he sent to his wife in the Netherlands. Not only was this an exercise of the poet who, like many in his day, regarded the eye as a ‘window to the soul’; it also made clear to Catherina that he was still keeping an eye on her from his exile.