Object data
bronze, iron and wood
height 31.2 cm × width 20.3 cm × depth 12 cm
Gieterij Nering Bögel, after Louis Moritz
Bust of J.C.J. van Speyk (1802-1831)
Deventer, Netherlands, 1832 - 1858
Inscriptions
- inscription, on the bust: J.C.J. VAN SPEYK
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-1319-2
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Two almost identical bronze busts of a Dutch naval officer, his head turned slightly to the left (for the other one, see NG-MC-1319-1). One includes a pedestal (NG-MC-1319-3).
The officer wears a uniform and the Dutch Military Order of King William. One wall pedestal belonging to one of the busts shows an explosion ship. The tail of the pedestal is decorated with a garland.
Lieutenant Jan van Speyk (1802-1831) died in action on the River Scheldt near Antwerp, after blowing up his ship and sacrificing himself rather than having it captured by the Belgian enemy. For this he was worshipped as a hero in the Netherlands.1 Many relics, paintings and other objects relating to Van Speyk were made at the time,2 now scattered over various museum collections in the Netherlands. In many cases these memorabilia were, supposedly, made out of original materials coming from the wreck of Van Speyk’s gunboat. These busts, made at the foundry Nering Bögel in Deventer,3 were from the iron of the salvaged cannon.4
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, p. 173; B.S. Kapsenberg, Uit ijzer gegoten. Beeld van de Deventer ijzergieterij Nering-Bögel en haar produkten (1756-1932), Zutphen 1982, pp. 28, 33; S. de Vries, De lucht in gevlogen, de hemel in geprezen. Eerbewijzen voor Van Speyk, Haarlem 1988, fig. 43; M.A. van Alphen, ‘Van Speyk. Trendsetter of trendvolger?’, in M. Ebben et al. (eds.), Alle streken van het kompas. Maritieme geschiedenis in Nederland, Zutphen 2010, pp. 53-71; R.B. Prud’homme van Reine, Liever niet de lucht in. De omstreden zelfmoordaanslag van Jan Carel van Speijk, Amsterdam 2016
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Gieterij Nering Bögel, Bust of J.C.J. van Speyk (1802-1831), Deventer, 1832 - 1858', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.433075
(accessed 20 April 2024 05:23:21).