Graaf Jan van Nassau

Graaf Jan van Nassau stands in Utrecht as a bronze public monument on a high, rectangular pedestal. Johann Theodor Stracké designed this bronze figure for Utrecht. Merkelbach van Enkhuizen & Co cast it in Breda during December 1882. It was completed in May 1883 and unveiled later that year. That date also makes it Utrecht’s oldest bronze statue.

The figure shows Count Jan van Nassau moments after he signed the Union of Utrecht in 1579. His left hand rests on a sheet of paper laid across a console. A parchment roll marked Utrecht 1579 hangs beside the figure, carrying a seal. The simpler final design omitted extra figures and plaques planned for the original. Only the pedestal’s bronze, fire-gilded letters spell his name.

Plans for a memorial appeared in 1829, 1845, 1848 and 1853, but costs and disagreement stopped them. A committee revived the project in the late 1870s. It replaced an unfunded Libertas column with a commemorative medal before the statue competition of 1880. Stracké’s design won the competition held in 1880. Contributions came from across the Netherlands and from Dutch people in China, Colombia, England, Japan and Russia. Members of the royal family also donated personally. Stracké’s name and the completion year are on the statue’s base plate.