Prints, Drawings and Portraits

Hidden Messages in a Painting of Prince Diponegoro

The bicentennial of the beginning of the Java War (1825-30) has once again placed Indonesia’s national hero Diponegoro (1785-1855) in the spotlight. A recent translation of his memoirs features a painting from Leiden University Library on its cover. This blogpost unravels its symbolic meaning.

Guest author • 17-11-2025

Prints, Drawings and Portraits · Manuscripts, Archives and Letters

The Augustan rector

There must have been some chuckling when guests at the rector's dinner on the 8th of February 1940 opened their menus. On the inside the rector magnificus was depicted as a small putto next to Augustus of Prima Porta. Was it meant as a witty conversation starter, or was there a deeper meaning?

Erik-Jan Dros • 17-09-2025

Prints, Drawings and Portraits · Photography

Claiming Coster

On 4 November 1901, a large crowd gathered on the Rapenburg for the unveiling of a memorial, mounted on the Academy Building of Leiden University. The memorial was erected in memory of Herman Coster. Who was he and why is commemorated at this very spot, at the heart of Leiden University?

Erik-Jan Dros • 25-06-2025

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

Picturing all the talents of the jubilee

When Elisabeth Carolina van Dorp (1872-1945) defended her dissertation in 1903, a special print was made to commemorate the occasion. While this print fits in an older student tradition, it also shows that women were still very much the odd ones out in the male dominated student world.

Erik-Jan Dros • 03-04-2025

Prints, Drawings and Portraits · Manuscripts, Archives and Letters

Petrus Camper’s facial angle theory and the missing monkey

Illustrations in the Leiden Special Collections shed new light on the making of Petrus Camper’s ‘facial angle theory,’ which proved influential in the development of scientific racism.

Guest author • 27-03-2025

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

Wanted! Original drawings by Johan Huizinga

Are you the unwitting owner of an original drawing by Johan Huizinga? It could be part of the first ever exhibition of his visual works in the University Museum of Groningen from 1 February until 1 May 2025. Will you help us find Huizinga's lost drawings?

Anton van der Lem • 13-08-2024

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

Identifying woodcut prints from a 1541 Dutch Livy translation

Thirteen woodcut prints in an uncatalogued box lead to an interesting quest through old books in the Leiden Special Collections. Danny Sunder explains how classic and modern techniques help identify unlinked images, enriching catalogue records.

Guest author • 17-04-2024

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

More than a costume party. Costumes for the Leiden Student Pageant of 1910

Within the field of costume history, fancy dress can be a rather complicated and neglected category. Are we looking at ‘fake’ clothes or well-made imitations? Research can reveal some interesting facts about its production, its previous owners, and their motives for ordering these clothes.

• 12-10-2021

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

Leiden University’s third centenary and jubilee (1875)

The fifteenth of June 1875 was a pleasant and warm day. Some menacing clouds threatened to throw a spanner in the works, but luckily the rain never came. Fortunate for the crowds gathering in Leiden, as on this day, Leiden University celebrated its three hundredth anniversary.

Jef Schaeps • 20-04-2021

Blogs

Hidden Messages in a Painting of Prince Diponegoro

The Augustan rector

Claiming Coster

Picturing all the talents of the jubilee

Petrus Camper’s facial angle theory and the missing monkey

Wanted! Original drawings by Johan Huizinga

Identifying woodcut prints from a 1541 Dutch Livy translation

More than a costume party. Costumes for the Leiden Student Pageant of 1910

Leiden University’s third centenary and jubilee (1875)