Student Bilderdijk

This is the earliest portrait of Bilderdijk. We don't know who made it. It may represent him during his law studies in Leiden (1780-1782). That was a happy time for him. Initially, he lived on the Langebrug, later in a room on the Breestraat. In Leiden, he was appreciated by the professors and his fellow students. The portrait shows Bilderdijk as a young man of average height. Eye-catching are the heavy eyebrows and the medium-length, dark hair, which gave him an 'Arabian' appearance. One of the professors even asked who that young man with that Eastern face was. In a letter to Rhijnvis Feith, Bilderdijk painted a clear picture of his worries in October 1781:

For the rest I sleep very diligently in the Collegien, which our professors find very beautiful and exemplary, and attribute to constant sleeplessness at night; which (to be said among us) is not always due to the study, but sometimes a fruit of (what should I call it?) disorder or caprice. - For the rest, I am quite a lawyer these days! I advise, respond, argue, and whatever is more like that, as if I knew quite a bit about it: then [but], alas! Meanwhile, all these niceties drag away so much time that I can't yawn: eating, drinking, and sleeping (or rather, being in bed) are things that are rarities for me today.

Already during this time, complaints about Bilderdijk’s physical condition began to emerge. In 1781 he wrote to Feith: ‘A propos, everything shows me that I have a serious illness, perhaps it will be my last. Thank God when I see my end post!’ Little did he know then that it would be another fifty years before his end would come.