The great hall of audience is an octagonal building, erected by Amelia of Solms, in honour of her husband Frederic-Henry, and contains a series of paintings, admirably executed, descriptive of his life.
The Apotheosis of Frederk-Henry, by Jordaans, is a picture of prodigious size, and extraordinary merit, in which the artist has introduced a portrait of himself. But the representation of Time destroying all things, by the same painter, exhibits more beauties.
The other artists who have contributed to decorate this apartment, are Rubens, Vanderwerf, Du Buay, Soutman, Van Fulden, &c.
In the time of the stadtholder, this apartment was often used as a concert-room, and when the Orange family dined in public, the hall of audience was the scene of their repasts. Thither the good Dutchman repaired to view his sovereign, not assisting; at deliberations of state, or employed in the exercise of supreme magistracy, but enjoying the pleasures, the humble pleasures, of a luxuriously-furnished table.
