The endangered swan ^Sale

Jan Asselijn (1650)

A swan energetically defends her nest against a dog. In later centuries, the fight was interpreted politically: the white swan was conceived as the statesman Johan de Witt, who was murdered in 1672, who defends the country against his enemies. With this interpretation, the painting was the first acquisition in the National Art Gallery (the predecessor of the Rijksmuseum) in 1800.