19 Arrival of Andries Pretorius (22 November 1838) A2 B2 C2 D N 19 Arrival 26 27 1 25 2 West wall (panel 23/31) 24 3 h. 2.3 × w. 2.34 m 4 23 Restored fractures on the vertical edges Sculptor of the clay maquette: Laurika Postma 22 5 Stages of production 21 A1 W.H. Coetzer, pencil drawing, retained only in A2 (April–June 1937) 6 A2 Reproduction of drawing A1, h. 17.5 × w. 15.6 cm (June 1937) 20 B1 One-third-scale clay maquette, not extant but replicated in B2 (1942–43) 7 B2 One-third-scale plaster maquette, h. 78.2 × w. 77 × d. 8.6 cm (1942–43) 19 C1 Full-scale wooden armature, not extant (1943–46) 8 18 C2 Full-scale clay relief, not extant but photographed; replicated in C3 17 9 (1943–46) 16 10 C3 Full-scale plaster relief (1943–46), not extant but copied in D (1948–49) 15 14 13 12 11 D Marble relief as installed in the Monument (1949) 0 5 10 m Early records SVK minutes (4.9.1937) ― item 4o (see below, ‘Developing the design’) Moerdyk Layout (5.10.1936–15.1.1937) ― scene 16 on panel 22/31 ‘Aankoms’ (Arrival) Jansen Memorandum (19.1.1937) ― item 16 ‘Arrival of Andries Pretorius’ Open Access. © 2020 Elizabeth Rankin and Rolf Michael Schneider, published by De Gruyter and African Minds. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110668797-024 402 19 Arrival Figure 19.1: D. Arrival. 1949. Marble, 2.3 × 2.34 m (courtesy of VTM; photo Russell Scott) Description 403 Description Two standing males face each other in the centre, framed by two children on the left and a seated woman on the right, all in close to profile views (fig. 19.1). The focus of attention is the taller of the two men, distinguished by his upright stance and height, further enhanced by his top hat, and his urbane appearance. He is clean-shaven and stylishly dressed in a formal tailcoat, with bow tie, waistcoat and full-length trousers, not cropped at the ankle like those of most of the men but strapped under his shoes. It is the Voortrekker Commandant-General Andries Pretorius, excep- tional in the frieze not only because of his attire but also his pistol and sabre. Pretorius touches his hat in salutation while shaking hands with the older bearded Voortrekker, who has come forward to greet him. Behind him, a Voortrekker woman wearing an apron over her dress has been inter- rupted in her work, making butter in a long container on a stand. Her clasped hands held to her breast suggest her strong emotion at the arrival of Pretorius. The two children opposite her gaze up at him in astonishment and admiration, the girl with her hand to her mouth. In the background is a Voortrekker wagon, indicating a laager, and the spirited saddled stallion on which Pretorius arrived, held in check by a black man who holds its reins. Beyond them, a range of mountains con- tinues the landscape of the previous scene, Women spur men on. 404 19 Arrival Figure 19.2: A2. W.H. Coetzer. Reproduction of first sketch for Arrival. June 1937 (ARCA PV94 1/75/5/1; photo the authors) Figure 19.3: B2. Laurika Postma. Arrival. 1942–43. Plaster, 78.2 × 77 × 8.6 cm. Maquette (courtesy of VTM Museum VTM 2184/1–28; photo Russell Scott) Developing the design 405 Developing the design The reproduction of Coetzer’s first drawing (fig. 19.2) shows a much more informal welcome for Pretorius than the marble, with quite a number of Boers rejoicing in his arrival; even a dog leaps up to greet him. The general is picked out by his frontal pose and central position against the apex of a tent, but otherwise displays the same hatless attire and jovial habit as most of his fellow Boers. He shakes hands with the bearded Boer who comes to greet him, and places a friendly hand on his shoulder. There are no children, but to the right a young Boer couple run in to welcome him, the woman enthusiastically waving something in the air. While she wears a kappie, he is bare- headed, a combination repeated in another couple to the left. There a woman with raised clasped hands turns animatedly towards her partner. Her apron suggests that she has been interrupted in her daily chores, perhaps represented by a tub on the far right. But a further Boer to her left seems unaware of Pretorius’ arrival and bends to gather carrots, still wearing his hat. Yet another behind him tends Pretorius’ horse, only its head visible. At the Historiese Komitee meeting on 4 September 1937 the following alterations were required: Arrival of Gen. Pretorius. Gen. Pretorius wore a sabre and pistols (see diary of Erasmus Smit). The flap pants unbutton at the sides; the carrots must be removed; most jackets should be buttoned to the top; draw more dignified figures; (consult the Voortrekker film).866 We do not know whether Coetzer followed these instructions, as no finished drawing by him sur- vives, but the small plaster maquette made by Laurika Postma (fig. 19.3) responds to at least some of the critique of the Historiese Komitee. Her design in general terms became the model for the full- scale relief. Dignity is ensured by a more balanced composition with Pretorius and a welcoming Boer in the centre, flanked by figures on either side. The dominant figure of the tall commandant is clean-shaven but with longer hair that curls over his ears, and he wears more formal attire with a long jacket falling in folds and strapped-down trousers. As requested by the Historiese Komitee, he is armed with a pistol and, on his far side, we can see the hilt of his sabre, with the blade also visible in the gap between his legs. Pretorius still shakes the hand of the approaching Boer, who has removed his hat respectfully, but instead of placing his left hand reassuringly on the man’s shoulder, he decorously tips his tall hat. The woman who turned excitedly towards her partner is now seated on her own in the right foreground, looking up at Pretorius, her raised hands clasping her bunched-up apron, the container with her butter-making abandoned for the moment. On the other side a boy with a bucket and the smaller girl in front of him look up in awe at the new arrival, taking the place of the four figures (and the carrots) on the left of the drawing. Only one figure, who waves a hat in the background, survives from the young couple that ran in on the right. Alongside, in place of Coetzer’s tent, are two covered wagons, one behind the other, the prominent rear wheel of the front wagon encircling the young boy’s head. Between the wagons and the group in the fore- ground stands Pretorius’ horse, its reins now held by a black servant in shirt sleeves, who holds his master’s gun in his other hand. As in the drawing, there is no space for a landscape background, but none of the figures are cut off by the frame as Coetzer portrayed them, so that the composition is more closed and compre- hensive, and also more static. It is typical of the clay maquettes that none of the figures are incom- plete, and they sometimes even encroach into the next scene to make this possible in the final frieze. Indeed, this happened when Arrival was reworked at full scale (fig. 19.4). The backs of the Boers from the flanking panels of Women spur men on and The Vow intrude on both left and right respectively. The bent elbow of the Boer woman in the former panel fits neatly into the concave of 866 ‘Aankoms van Gen. Pretorius. Gen. Pretorius het ’n sabel en pistole aangehad (Sien Dagboek van Erasmus Smit.) Die klapbroeke is aan die sye losgeknoop; die wortels moet uitgehaal word; die meeste baadjies moet tot bo toege- knoop wees; teken waardiger figure; (Raadpleeg die Voortrekker-rolprent.)’ (Historiese Komitee, 4.9.1937: 4o). The ‘rolprent’ refers to Gustav Preller’s silent film De Voortrekker, produced in 1916. 406 19 Arrival Figure 19.4: C2. Arrival. 1943–46. Clay. Full-scale relief (photo courtesy of Kirchhoff files; photo Alan Yates) Developing the design 407 10 Willem van Heerden 11 Trudie Kestell, daughter of Father Kestell and clothing expert 12 Andries Pretorius, after a cartoon drawing of him Figure 19.5: Models for portraits (Potgieter 1987, 32) Figure 19.6: Portrait of Willem van Heerden as Boer welcoming Pretorius in Arrival. Marble, detail of fig. 19.1 (photo Russell Scott) the boy’s neck in Arrival, and obscures part of the wagon wheel that earlier seemed to form a halo around his head. While the maquette made Coetzer’s drawing more decorous, it is markedly more relaxed and naturalistic than the large clay version (fig. 19.4). Although retaining all the figures, except the one waving his hat in the background, the full-size composition has been further clarified and formal- ised in its details, poses and overall arrangement. For example, Pretorius now wears a tailored tail- coat, and his sabre is more visible, the hilt hanging below his hip with the blade extending behind him. As though in a staged tableau, the two children on his left replicate each other’s poses, the girl now a little taller so that her head fits deftly under the boy’s chin.