24 Mpande proclaimed king of the Zulu (10 February 1840) A3 B2 C2 D N 24 Mpande 26 27 1 25 2 West wall (panel 28/31) 24 3 h. 2.3 × 2.4 m 4 23 Restored fractures on the vertical edges Sculptor of the clay maquette: Frikkie Kruger 22 5 Stages of production 21 A1 W.H. Coetzer, pencil drawing, retained only in A2 (April–June 1937) 6 A2 Reproduction of A1 (June 1937) 20 A3 W.H. Coetzer, revised pencil drawing A1, h. 13.4 × w. 15.4 cm 7 (after September 1937) 19 Annotations: ‘nog nie klaar’ (not yet finished) / ‘Trekkers rig ’n gedenk 8 18 steen op’ (Trekkers erect a memorial stone) / ‘Pretorius groet Pand’ (Pre- 17 9 torius greets Mpande) / ‘Geweer salevo’ (gun salute) / ‘MPanda Kroning’ 16 10 (Mpanda Crowning) 15 14 13 12 11 B1 One-third-scale clay maquette, not extant but replicated in B2 (1942–43) B2 One-third-scale plaster maquette, h. 77.5 × w. 86 × d. 8 cm (1942–43) 0 5 10 m C1 Full-scale wooden armature, not extant (1943–46) C2 Full-scale clay relief, not extant but photographed; replicated in C3 (1943–46) C3 Full-scale plaster relief (1943–46), not extant; copied in D (late 1947–49) D Marble relief as installed in the Monument (1949) Early records SVK minutes (4.9.1937) ― item 4s (see below, ‘Developing the design’) Voorstelle (5.12.1934?) ― item 18 ‘Kroning van Umpande. Hiervoor bestaan verskeiegeskrewe suggesties: rotsblok in Zululand, waarop Pretorius e.a. aanvoerders, met Umpande, ens.’ (Crowning of Mpande. Different written suggestions exist for this: rock in Zululand on which Pretorius and other commanders, with Mpande, etc.) Moerdyk Layout (5.10.1936–15.1.1937) ― scene 20 on panel 26/31 ‘Volksraad ... Kroning Mpande’ (Volksraad ... Crown- ing Mpande) Jansen Memorandum (19.1.1937) ― item 7.20 ‘Mpande, who placed himself with his followers under the protection of the Volksraad, and who assisted in ultimately conquering Dingaan, is proclaimed by Andries Pretorius as “King of the Zulus”’ (14th February, 1840) 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/10.1515/9783110668797-029 526 24 Mpande Figure 24.1: D. Mpande. 1949. Marble, 2.3 × 2.4 m (courtesy of VTM; photo Russell Scott) Description 527 Description In the spotlight are three people in frontal view whose smaller scale and elevated position on a smooth rock plinth, sited over the gable-shaped door, set them back in space (fig. 24.1). In the centre is the Zulu king Mpande, flanked by a slightly smaller Zulu on his right and Andries Pre- torius on his left. Pretorius is the tallest of the central group, clean-shaven and in the formal dress that helps to make him recognisable across the frieze, his tall hat topping the other heads, even though he stands lower on the sloping plinth. Yet Mpande is given royal treatment, holding a cer- emonial staff and vested with full regalia which matches that of Dingane on the opposite wall in Treaty. He has a royal head ring with its large central attachment in the form of a feather ball and a single feather at the back; earplugs; a double ring around the neck; a small ring around the upper left arm; a purpose-cut skin covering his back and the midline of the chest; a cord bandolier worn diagonally over his shoulder (which almost seems to run through the gesturing left hand of the adjacent Zulu); two ‘izinjobo’ of genet tails hang between his front and his invisible back apron; and tufts of cow tails on a band around the upper arms and below the knees.1203 Two parties form semi-circles on either side of the central group, witnessing the event: four- teen Zulu portrayed with almost classical naked bodies on the left, addressed by the Zulu next to the king, and ten Boers in their customary Voortrekker attire on the right. At the front of the parties are two pairs of men who stand on either side of the doorway. Large in scale, with their backs to us as they turn towards the group on the rock plinth, they not only fill the narrow space on either side but form a clever device to draw the eye to the centre, reinforced by the oblique position of their weapons. Their gaze is multiplied by the many onlookers depicted behind them, only their heads visible, Boer and Zulu with their hats and assegais respectively raised in celebration of the newly instated king. 1203 For royal Zulu dress, see Treaty. 528 24 Mpande Figure 24.2: A2. W.H. Coetzer. Reproduction of first sketch for Figure 24.3: A3. W.H. Coetzer. ‘MPanda’. After September 1937. Mpande. June 1937 (courtesy of ARCA PV94 1/75/5/1; photo the Pencil, 13.4 × 15.4 cm. Revised first sketch (photo courtesy of authors) Museum Africa, no. 66/2194T) Figure 24.4: B2. Frikkie Kruger. Mpande. 1942–43. Plaster, 75.5 × 86 × 8 cm. Maquette (courtesy of VTM Museum VTM 2184- 28/1–28; photo Russell Scott) Developing the design 529 Developing the design We can surmise that Coetzer’s first pencil drawing, judging by its reproduction (fig. 24.2), was basi- cally the extant drawing (fig. 24.3), since there is little difference between them. There are, however, some small corrections in the drawing: faint traces of erased lines show that the corner of the box in the tent was moved to the right, although this was evidently modified before the reproduction was made, as it shows the revised position. Further changes are the brim of Pretorius’ hat, which is now floppier and turned up, accentuated by pencil lines, and some details of Mpande’s regalia that are shaded in, as is the front but not the narrow side of a memorial stone on the left, which reverses the position of the hatching in the reproduction. In Coetzer’s design, the two key people stand in the centre foreground face to face, Pretorius approaching from the right to shake hands with Mpande. They are in front of an open tent, and a gun leans on a riempie stool in the right foreground, which suggests that this is a Voortrekker camp.1204 While Pretorius is shown in normal trekker attire apart from his top hat and the unusual cuffs on his trousers, the new Zulu king with his prosperous round belly is arrayed with full royal regalia. Partly overlapped by him and partly obscured by the frame, two trekkers – with brimmed hats and rolled-up sleeves, and a pick and shovel lying beside them on the ground – erect a memorial stone called Panda- klip (Mpande’s stone) to honour Mpande’s crowning, as discussed below. On the opposite side and a little further back, a row of three trekkers who wear powder horns slung over their shoulders fire a salvo. There are four guns visible, so one must imagine at least a fourth trekker beyond the frame, just as the cut-off arm and shields on the opposite side suggest Zulu onlookers. At the Historiese Komitee meeting on 4 September 1937 the following alterations were requested: Coronation of Panda. Pretorius and Panda stand on a rock alongside each other; Pretorius is in his military dress (See Zietsman diary); a group of Boers stand in front of them and behind are the kaffers of Panda; flint guns; Panda does not have arm bands but possibly arm rings; his body is covered in skins.1205 Coetzer’s drawing, marked as unfinished, pays no attention to the comments; they are, however, taken up in the design of the small plaster maquette by Frikkie Kruger (fig. 24.4). Anticipating the final design, Pretorius and Mpande now stand on a rock, and a Zulu figure is introduced on Mpande’s right, so that he is centred. All three men are depicted in frontal view and the high ground on which they stand provides a pretext for raising them to fit over the gable-shaped door. Mpande is a much sprucer figure than in Coetzer’s sketch, his bare torso well developed with no belly fat; he wears the royal regalia, much like the final panel, but including a visible ‘ibeshu’ (back apron), although not the skin to cover his upper body mentioned by the committee. He is also shown with a bandolier, perhaps portraying the officer’s poignard presented to him by Delegorgue (see below). Mpande looks towards a crowd of Zulu on the left, to whom he is presented as the new king by the Zulu next to him. On the other side, Pretorius stands, no longer in Voortrekker clothes, as Coetzer had portrayed him, nor in mili- tary attire as the Historiese Komitee had requested, but in a waistcoat, bow tie and long frock coat from which his sabre and pistol protrude. Missing from his customary sartorial attire is his top hat, 1204 Coetzer’s design evidently follows the recollection of Philippus Jeremias Coet(s)zer (1819–98) in Preller (Voor- trekkermense 4, 1925, 63; see also Visagie 2011, 110): ‘Pretorius then gave him his hand and said: “Panda, now you are the king of the Zulu nation!” He led him from the tent to outside the laager. Pretorius fired ten shots from the cannon, and the Boers shot two salvos from their guns’ (Pretorius gaf hem daarop de hand, en zeide: ‘Panda, jij is nou de koning van de Zoeloe-natie!’ Hij geleidde hem uit de tent tot buiten ’t lager.