Intendant of the King's Buildings

Romeyn's intimate knowledge of ancient history and mythology and his skill in mixing the allegorical and the historical had earned him a reputation as the most ingenious and inventive etcher in Holland. From the late 1680s onwards, and especially during the 1690s, he further broadened his artistic scope by becoming a designer of statues, triumphal arches, huge wall paintings, stained-glass windows, and other large-scale artworks of a more or less public nature. His renown, since the stadtholder’s campaign of 1688–1689, as the latter's artistic spin-doctor helped him to win honourable and lucrative commissions. Counting city governments, water control district boards, wealthy individuals, and the stadtholder-king himself amongst his patrons, he designed and executed extensive baroque decorations that were simultaneously stylish, fashionable, and patriotic.

In the late 1680s, Romeyn became involved in designing the gardens of Het Loo Palace, William's favourite country residence in the Netherlands. In May 1689, the steward of William's domains paid him an advance of 1,145 guilders ‘for several statues of His Majesty's house at Het Loo’, and in February of the following year he reimbursed 1,256 guilders and 6 stivers for advances paid to several sculptors working on the gardens. Most of the sculptors so employed, such as Jan van Blommendael, Pieter van der Plasse, and Jan Ebbelaer, were Romeyn's fellow-members of the Hague artists’ confrerie Pictura. The man responsible for recruiting him was almost certainly Hans Willem Bentinck, who in June 1689 received a commission as superintendent of the royal gardens. Around the same time, Romeyn styled himself intendant des bâtiments de Sa Majesté Brittanique in a notarial deed. He later wrote with obliging flattery that Het Loo owed ‘the Magnificence and Curiosity of its Greatness & Pleasantness’ to ‘the great Care of the Earl of Portland’.

The payments reveal that Romeyn was acting as a contractor, but his involvement was artistic as well. The Atlas van Stolk in Rotterdam preserves a series of eight drawings in red chalk representing the designs for large statues that were to adorn the waterworks in the palace gardens. Each statue is provided with an elaborate explanation of its allegorical meaning, scribbled in Romeyn's neat handwriting.