Vondel, Joost van den, 1587-1679, Dutch poet and dramatist, b. Cologne. He is generally considered the greatest Dutch writer. During the emergence of the Dutch nation Vondel was the national poet; his occasional verse celebrated the triumphs of the United Provinces in a vigorous oratorical style. In 1621 he fell victim to a bipolar melancholia which may have hindered his work for a while. His drama Palamedes (1625), concerning a contemporary religious-political martyrdom, made him suspect to the Calvinist officials. At this time he joined the Remonstrants, whose Arminian opposition to dogmatic Calvinism appealed to him, and later, when national independence was virtually assured, he converted (c.1641) to Roman Catholicism as a more universal faith. Many poems were inspired by his conversion and also by his grief at the death of his wife (1635) and of three of his five children. Vondel's verse is melodious, sonorous, and seemingly effortless and spontaneous; it is marked by vowel elision, which he brought into full use in Dutch poetry, and by rhythmic patterns reminiscent of the French. His dramatic style has been called high baroque. Built on the medieval mystery play and on classical models, his plays are Christian and semitragic and illuminate a recurring theme—the conflict between man's will to rebel and his desire to give himself to God. Probably the most famous are Gysbrecht van Aemstil (1637), on a medieval Dutch theme, and the magnificent Lucifer (1654, tr. 1898), which may have influenced Milton. Vondel's immense production includes numerous translations from French, Latin, Italian, and Greek, including works of Sophocles, Euripides, Vergil, Ovid, Horace, Seneca, and Tasso.

Haag, Den: see Hague, The.

Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den, 1621-74, Dutch painter and etcher. He was a pupil and close follower of Rembrandt, especially in his religious works. A fine draftsman, he easily assimilated the styles of artists around him, including those of Flinck and Fabritius. His Isaac Blessing Jacob is in the Metropolitan Museum.

Den Helder, city (1994 pop. 61,024), North Holland prov., NW Netherlands, on the North Sea. It is the main base of the Netherlands's navy.

(born Nov. 17, 1587, Cologne—died Feb. 5, 1679, Amsterdam) Dutch poet and dramatist. Of Mennonite parents, Vondel early showed a preference for using Christian mythology as the subject matter of his plays. He also wrote lampoons and satirical poems against the Dutch church and government. His dramatic tragedies, with their lyrical language and grandeur of conception, are his most important achievement. The Passover (1612) is his most notable early work. He first modeled his plays on ancient Latin drama but later turned to the Greek model; plays of the latter type include his masterpiece, the trilogy comprising Lucifer (1654), Adam in Exile (1664), and Noah (1667), which influenced John Milton's Paradise Lost.

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(born Nov. 17, 1587, Cologne—died Feb. 5, 1679, Amsterdam) Dutch poet and dramatist. Of Mennonite parents, Vondel early showed a preference for using Christian mythology as the subject matter of his plays. He also wrote lampoons and satirical poems against the Dutch church and government. His dramatic tragedies, with their lyrical language and grandeur of conception, are his most important achievement. The Passover (1612) is his most notable early work. He first modeled his plays on ancient Latin drama but later turned to the Greek model; plays of the latter type include his masterpiece, the trilogy comprising Lucifer (1654), Adam in Exile (1664), and Noah (1667), which influenced John Milton's Paradise Lost.

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Dutch 's-Gravenhage or Den Haag

City (pop., 2005 est.: 468,421), seat of government of The Netherlands. Located 4 mi (6 km) from the North Sea, it is the administrative capital of The Netherlands, home to its court and government, though Amsterdam is the official capital. The counts of Holland built a castle at The Hague in 1248. The complex now forms the Binnenhof in the old quarter of the city, which became the seat of the Dutch government in 1585. The city grew rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries. A centre of government, international law, and corporate administration, most of its businesses are engaged in trade, banking, and insurance. The International Court of Justice is housed in the Peace Palace (1913). The city is filled with notable architecture, much of which survived despite the heavy damage inflicted on the city during the German occupation in World War II.

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