Luitenant-generaal A. Kool 1909

This bronze medal, made by Pier Pander, commemorates Lieutenant General A. Kool. It looks like it was cast, maybe using a mold, that the artist carefully carved, like a kind of bas-relief. I wonder what it was like for Pander to work on this, slowly building up the form, pushing and pulling the material, coaxing a likeness out of the metal? The man’s face, rendered in profile, is so detailed, particularly the mustache. You can sense the weight and presence of the sitter, Kool. On the reverse, the text is etched, each letter precise, commemorating Kool's fifty years of service. It makes you think about the relationship between the artist and the sitter, what Kool might have thought, seeing himself rendered in this way? It's a testament, literally, set in bronze, to a life of service. It also speaks to something larger about human relationships across time.