406 East Wilson Street
Judge Isaac Wilson was a U.S. Congressman, and one of the first residents in Batavia, Illinois, when he settled here in 1835. In fact, Judge Wilson is credited with giving the city its name — changing it from “Head of Big Woods” to Batavia — after his home town of Batavia, New York. Of course, everything is derivative of something, and Batavia, New York, was named after the Batavian Republic from around 1800 in a region in what is now The Netherlands — and/or the Batavia people, the name given by the Romans to a Germanic tribe that lived in this region as far back as the first century BC.
Judge Wilson, however, brought it to Illinois. His home in Batavia was built in 1843, and on May 9, 1985, his home was named to the National Register of Historic Places, ensuring it will remain preserved for a long time. Wilson was appointed Postmaster of Batavia on February 6, 1841, a title he held for 5 years. He died in 1848 and was buried at the East Batavia Cemetery in October of that year.
One of the painters commissioned to make a ‘Batavian’ painting for the new Amsterdam town hall was Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69). Rembrandt chose the moment of the oath of the Batavians in the sacred grove, as described by Tacitus, Histories IV, 14. Civili’s, with crown and sword, is the main protagonist of the composition. Unlike his fellow painters, Rembrandt decided to depict Civili’s with one blind eye, as some of the sources had described his appearance. In 1662 it was reportedly on display at the town hall, but shortly afterwards, it was removed from the building. The painting, originally measuring more than 5 by 5 meters, was reduced to about 2 by 3 meters, which incidentally makes Civili’s blind eye more clearly visible.
