Artwork Data

Title

Eline Vere

Artist

Theo van der Nahmer

Year

1958

Material

brons

Dimensions

265 cm

Artwork Location

Address

Groot Hertoginnelaan, Den Haag

City district

Scheveningen

GPS data

52.085183721567, 4.2920793749074 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

Eline Vere: there she stands, stately as was befitting a lady of the Hague at the end of the 19th century. Dressed in the latest fashion, wearing a hat and holding a parasol to complete the picture. The place where this elegant woman has been placed is also in keeping with her appearance. She stands in a small park along the Groot Hertoginnelaan. Behind her rise the imposing houses of the Embassy quarter. Incidentally, Eline Vere has not always stood on the Groot Hertoginnelaan. On the occasion of the book ball that Pulchri Studio held in 1974 around the theme of Couperus, she spent some time on Lange Voorhout.

This elegant, bronze female figure was made by the well-known sculptor Theo van der Nahmer. There are many sculptures by his hand in The Hague. Van der Nahmer was inspired by the main character in the eponymous debut novel by Louis Couperus (1863-1923). His 'Eline Vere' appeared in 1889 and is about a young woman from the better circles of The Hague who suffers from life. She has difficulty adjusting to the banality of daily life and flees into her own dream world. In the end, as in many late 19th-century books, fate has it that she suffers from an overdose of morphine, which she uses to treat her insomnia.

However, the tragedy of Eline Vere in Couperus' novel is not immediately reflected in the statue that Van der Nahmer made of her. This sculptor depicted her primarily as a stately woman from The Hague. At the most, one could interpret the undetailed face hidden under the brim of her hat as dreamy.

Close