St. Nicholas Gift
The St. Nicholas gift in the “At Home with Cuypers” room is a cast of Pierre Cuypers’s hand. This special gift tells a personal story. Pierre Cuypers and his wife, Antoinette Alberdingk Thijm, were members of the De Vioolstruik reading circle. De Vioolstruik was a group consisting of members of the Alberdingk Thijm and Cuypers families and their close friends. They read texts from the seventeenth century, particularly those of De Muiderkring.
For the annual St. Nicholas celebration, names were drawn: the gentlemen drew the ladies’ wishes, and vice versa. In 1875, Pierre happened to draw his wife’s wish, which read: “An index for my rule of life?” Pierre gave her a cast he had made himself, inscribed with the words: “An index was requested: see if this pleases you.” The finger points to the text: “Reject and eradicate what harms the soul or body; cultivate and offer what benefits the heart and mind.”
The fulfillment of this wish was well received by the members of De Vioolstruik. During the Epiphany celebration on January 6, the wishes were festively commemorated, and Pierre unanimously won the King’s Crown.
The story of “An Index” is recorded in the booklet *In Memoriam* about Antoinette Cuypers-Alberdingk Thijm, which Pierre Cuypers compiled in 1914. The glass negative used to print the image accompanying the text is also part of the Cuypershuis collection.
