Artwork Data

Title

Ulricus Huber

Artist

Frits van Hall

Year

1938

Material

brons

Dimensions

h 160 cm

Artwork Location

Address

Korte Voorhout, Den Haag

City district

Centrum

GPS data

52.08301706181, 4.3167535571472 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

Frits van Hall, in the prime of his life and in the middle of his career as a sculptor, was murdered by the Nazis in the Dachau concentration camp. As a young artist, he eagerly took note of the work of innovators and avant-gardists in European sculpture, who exhibited in our country. He was at the forefront of the development of the free sculpture; the sculpture that in the thirties had become increasingly autonomous, detached from the architecture. Freestanding, but often still in an architectural context, such as the six larger-than-life figure portraits of famous lawyers at the former Supreme Court on the Plein. Van Hall took on one of the lawyers: Ulricus Huber (1636-1694).

Huber's balanced composition is a model of tranquillity and understated elegance. The right hand hangs relaxed along the body and the left hand rests on the slightly protruding left leg. The stylised facial features give the sculpture a modern look.

At the end of the 1930s, the outdated building of the Supreme Court (1861) on the Plein was thoroughly renovated and redesigned by the then government architect G.C. Bremer. He asked a large number of artists to collaborate on a 'total work of art'. The interior and exterior were decorated, the highlight being the platform with the six justices.

At the end of the 1980s, this building was demolished to make way for the expansion of the Lower House. The statues were spared and moved with the Supreme Court to Kazernestraat. From 1988 to 2016, they stood there in the back of a small square. With the move to the new building on Korte Voorhout in 2016, the statues regained their original allure and function that they had had sitting at the top of the wide stairs in front of the Supreme Court facade on the Plein.

 

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