JH Hofmeyr Maquette

JH Hofmeyr was sculpted by the Dutch born South African artist Anton van Wouw (1862-1945). In 1915, Anton van Wouw was commissioned to make a statue of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (1845-1909) a South African politician and a newsPaper editor from Cape Town. Van Wouw completed the maquette in 1915 and the large work in 1916, but due to the outbreak of First World War (1914-1918) it could not be shipped to Europe until 1919. The work was completed in 1920 at the Foundry FW Braat in Leiden (Netherlands). Short biography: Anton van Wouw was born on 26 December 1862 in Driebergen in the Netherlands. After school, Van Wouw began as a stucco worker in Delft where he learnt the art of sculpture. He studied 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 1852-1902) Van Wouw was finally recognised for his work when Sammy Marks (1884-1920), a Lithuanian-born South African industrialist and financier, 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's art went from strength to strength creating over 10 large bronze 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 in Pretoria.