Hendrik van den Eijnde, Cast sculpture of a pelican with young, 1932

Plaster sculpture of a pelican with young made by Hendrik van den Eijnde in 1932. The tuff stone sculpture 'Pelican's nest' was executed after this model. Originally the statue was part of the modernist office building of the insurance company OLVEH in The Hague, a precursor to the current AEGON. The pelican with young symbolize (Christian) sacrifice: a mother pelican pierces her own breast with her beak to feed her young with her blood. The OLVEH building was a design of Jan Wils, member of the De Stijl architect group. After the office building was demolished in 1969, the statue was returned to the family, who in turn donated it to the municipality of Heemstede, where it nowadays adorns the Laan van Rozenburg.