Lot 527: LOUIS ROYER (1793-1868), DUTCH SCHOOL, A BRONZE FIGURE OF LAURENS JANSZOON COSTER DATED 1852

LOUIS ROYER (1793-1868), DUTCH SCHOOL, A BRONZE FIGURE OF LAURENS JANSZOON COSTER DATED 1852 rich brown patination, monogrammed LR 1825 and with Gebroeders Lurasco foundry mark; inv. no. B-113 48 cm. high

During the 19th century as in many other then mostly just emerging European countries a strong wave of nationalism swept through the Netherlands. As a result many famous real or supposed national heroes were prominently put forward in their own countries. One of the big Dutch heroes was the printer Laurens Janszoon Coster of Haarlem (1377-ca. 1440) who was honoured as being the inventor of (book) printing against the clearly much better substanciated German claim of Johannes Guttenberg.