Artwork Data

Title

Jacob en de engel

Artist

Carel Kneulman

Year

1963

Material

brons

Dimensions

h. 465 cm

Artwork Location

Address

Alexanderveld 125/126, Den Haag

City district

Centrum

GPS data

52.0884539, 4.3015616 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

Almost everyone knows 'Het Lieverdje' on the Spui in Amsterdam. What is less well known is that this sculpture was made by Carel Kneulman. The Amsterdam artist is a typical pupil from the school of the famous teacher Jan Bronner. Kneulman studied at the Rijksakademie in the capital and developed into a draughtsman, sculptor and etcher with a strong preference for social-religious and secular subjects. Style and imagery vary from naturalistic to abstract. Sometimes alienating elements appear in the figurative images. The expressive handwriting of the sculptor is in keeping with his social engagement.

Kneulman's sculptures resound with both his social engagement and his personal vision of man. This can be seen in the themes the sculptor chose: 'Starving Child', on permanent loan to The Hague's Gemeentemuseum, the Amsterdam 'Sweetheart' and of course also in 'Jacob and the Angel'. The latter sculpture refers to the Old Testament story of Jacob wrestling with the angel, thus depicting the struggle between good and evil.

Kneulman made the design for 'Jacob and the angel' as early as 1954. A scale model stands in the garden of the Haags Gemeentemuseum. Later it was cast in bronze and placed as a sort of crown on the canopy of the police headquarters in The Hague. In every respect, the sculpture meets the requirements of the countless monumental sculptures and wall reliefs placed in the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1960s. The post-war social-religious standards and values are firmly anchored in this monumental sculpture. This applies to 'The sweetheart' and certainly also to 'Jacob and the angel'.

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