Art News

Dutch Royal House criticized for ‘racist’ painting

AMSTERDAM (AP).- Critics urged the Dutch royal family Friday to get rid of a painting they say is an offensive reminder of wrongs from the Netherlands’ colonial past, but the Royal House defended the 19th-century work as an important part of the country’s history. “Homage of the Colonies” decorates one side of Queen Beatrix’s iconic gold-trimmed carriage, and depicts half-naked, brown-skinned women and men in servile poses bearing gifts to an enthroned white woman. Thousands of fans will line the streets of The Hague next week to watch the popular queen travel in the horse-drawn carriage, one of the most famous symbols of the Netherlands’ royal House of Orange, to address parliament in her annual speech. Jeffry Pondaag of the Dutch Debts of Honor Committee co-authored an open letter published in national newspapers calling for the painting to be removed and placed in a museum to illustrate “a nasty chapter of Dutch history.” “Dutch people have a big mouth about other people’s v