Artwork Data

Title

Asklepios

Artist

Hubert van Lith

Year

1960

Material

Brons

Artwork Location

Address

Sportlaan 600, Den Haag

City district

Segbroek

GPS data

52.08147257558, 4.2642002288971 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

What is that man sitting there with the snakes doing above the entrance of that monumental building on the Sportlaan? The smallest one is wriggling unruly around a stick, while the two bigger ones are hissing at you with their mouths wide open. If you realize that these statues were made for a hospital and know that they are the representation of Asklepios, they are a lot less daunting. After all, Asklepios is the god of medicine in ancient Greek mythology. He is invariably depicted with a staff surrounded by a writhing serpent: the esculape. For centuries this has been the symbol for doctors. Sculptor Hubert van Lith must have thought it appropriate to place precisely this Greek god in bronze on the awning of the hospital.

As early as the 1920s, a Red Cross hospital had stood on this site. In 1942/43, however, it was evacuated by the Nazis. Together with a lot of houses it had to make way for the Atlantic Wall and a 27 meter wide tank ditch behind it. With this, the Germans hoped to be able to ward off attacks from the sea. After the war architect M.J. Luthmann was commissioned to design a new building. It was completed in 1960. Van Lith was commissioned to embellish the main entrance.

At the Rijksinstituut tot Opleiding van Tekenleraren and the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, Van Lith was trained as a graphic artist, draughtsman and painter, but especially as a medallist and sculptor. The well-known Jan Bronner was one of his teachers. Van Lith made classical figurative work in stone and bronze. Workers and women were usually the subject. After the Second World War he realized several war monuments, including "Unbroken Resistance" which has stood at the head of Rotterdam's Westersingel since 1965. Like Asklepios it is a classical sculpture with a touch of personal emotion in its gaze.

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