Strauss & co - 20 May 2019, Johannesburg

122 (1850–1916), the British chief-of-staff, negotiated the appropriation of the bronzes with Sammy Marks, and arranged to have the four Boer figures redirected to England. The Kruger figure languished in the Delagoa Bay warehouse (although rumours persist that this original casting was dumped in the Bay). While Kitchener planned to split the Boer soldiers between Sandhurst and Woolwich military colleges, one pair was eventually installed at the School of Civil Engineering at Chatham, and the other in the gardens of Broome Park, Kitchener’s country seat: spectacular spoils of war. In 1914, a decade after Kruger’s funeral in Pretoria, his statue was returned to the city and lifted atop a lone plinth in Princess Park. Despite Louis Botha’s best diplomatic efforts, the Boer soldiers remained in Britain for a generation; only in the aftermath of WW1 did Jan Smuts facilitate their return to South Africa. After being repatriated late in 1921 (Kitchener had died in 1916), the four soldiers were finally reunited with their general in 1925, when all were installed together outside the old Pretoria Railway Station. Finally, in 1956, the monument was positioned in its intended location in Church Square, albeit upon an amended base. When modelling the five figures in Rome, Van Wouw made a number of small amendments. In the final version of Kruger, for instance, he changed the figure’s weight distribution and the position of the presidential sash; the walking stick was added too, and the beard pressed more firmly against the collar. This definitive maquette was probably cast in plaster in Rome, and captured in an image by Rudolf Steger. It was exhibited at the Pretoria Art Association’s inaugural exhibition in October 1904, and it formed part of the memorial decorations at the president’s Pretorian funeral in that December. Thereafter it was acquired by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, and returned to Rome pre-1907 to be cast in bronze. Only a single casting was made by the Nisini foundry before the plaster was destroyed. This astonishing, solitary casting, with its deep caramel patina, was donated to the Rand Club in Johannesburg by Sir Ernest. At the entrance to the bar for generations, Oom Paul – regal and weighty – has enjoyed a unique view of the country’s history. The maquette has been identified by SAHRA as an item of significant historical importance, and will not be issued an export licence. right  A still from the intervention The Silver Lining , by r1, October 2014, Church Square, Pretoria. The work formed part of the Cool Capital Biennale, 2014, and was sponsored by Strauss & Co. Photo credit: Liam Purnell