Daniel Johannes Esselen

A drawing of Daniel Johannes Esselen (1851-1919) by the South African sculptor and sketch artist Anton van Wouw (1862-1945). Esselen was appointed as the Adjutant State Secretary for the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic) in 1894 when Van Wouw sketched him for a local publication. This portrait was photographed by the South African art historian, Prof Murray Schoonraad (1932-1991) in 1981. Short biography: Anton van Wouw was born on 26 December 1862 in Driebergen in the Netherlands. He started life after school as a stucco worker in Delft where he learnt to sculpt. He also started to study at the Rotterdam Academy for Arts but stopped his studies to join his father and brother in South Africa. After having a hard time as an artist in the early beginnings of his career of the then Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic), Van Wouw finally got his big break when Sammy Marks, a rich industrialist, commissioned Van Wouw to create the famous Kruger Memorial, currently situated on Church Square in the centre of South Africa's Capital city Pretoria. From there, Van Wouw went from creating over 10 large monuments, as well as more than 100 other sculptures in his lifetime. Anton van Wouw passed away in Pretoria in 1945 just after completing his largest work, a figure of Woman and Children for the Voortrekker Monument.