Selling a fond sculpture in stone is like loosing something precious. Reason why I started tot make a copy of a special stone sculpture in bronze. After two outsourcings I met with Jaap Kleinstra in his foundry in Amsterdam. He allowed me to prepare and to finish a sculpture in bronze in his workshop. Jaap loved to analyse and experiment, like me. We experimented welding bronze and stainless steel to have at strong fixation for the Athena and her prison bars in stainless steel..

Jaap also learned me the tricks of different chemicals and their temperatures to get the preferred patinas.

Due to the economic recession his foundry could not survive.

Patinas from iron oxide and ‘sulfuric liver’, including a touch of manganese oxide. Another magic chemical is copper nitrate. It provides thrilling shades of blue, green, brown and black.

The Athena ( the owl of wisdom) flying into freedom.
(Sculpture on command for the Leiden University , Netherlands, to remember the periode 1940 – 1945 when the university was closed by the Nazis)

Loones in love. Bronze copy of the original sculpture in red chinese soap stone.
(One in Amsterdam and one in Saint-Tropez. The original one in stone in Maarssen)

One of the serie of five (different) peacock.
(One in Caracas, Venezuela, one in Leiderdorp, two in Oegstgeest and one in Velp)

Experimenting forms and techniques, in memory of the female models at the Vrije Academie of Modern Art  (Acquired by a French art collector)
You can read more about the Vrije Academy period under the menu “About Philip de Koning”.

The more serious Venus
(Acquired by an art collector in Paris)

The ‘off spring’ of the Black marble Loone in patinated bronze.
(Apart from mother in the private collection of Philip de Koning, the young bronze loones left their nest)

An owl in take off. I made five copies, each one with a different patina.
(One in my private collection. It was the prototype for the Leiden Athena)

Owl on command. Standing on a block of wood made in bronze
(for Durk & Joke for their garden)

Black & White face to show the world that all men are equal.
(On exposition in Port Gimaud at ABC Real Estate Agency, asking € 3000)

Preparing the holes in the cissled and sand blasted body of a peacock for its 55 feathers