Artist paints wrong plane on Alphen war memorial

By Janene Pieters on June 15, 2018 - 12:50
Artist paint brush and palette
Artist paint brush and palette. (Photo: Marco Verch / Wikimedia Commons)

Artist Joost Zwanenburg made an error when he painted a new war memorial at the Herenhof shopping center in Alphen aan den Rijn. The plane depicted on the monument is not the Halifax that crashed in 1944, as it was meant to be, but a different type, NU.nl reports.

The mistake was pointed out by 87-year-old local resident Wim Bombeeck. "I think it's clever of Mr. Bombeeck that he saw the difference", Zwanenburg said to the newspaper. "During the opening of the monument, all kinds of veterans were present. None of the veterans saw that the plane was not the Halifax. It's about small details."

The error came in when Zwanenburg searched for photos of the Halifax on Google. "I was sent images, but they were not very nice to paint. I was looking for a better light. I found it, but it now appears that the plane in the picture is not the Halifax."

Zwanenburg will fix the painting as soon as possible. "Maybe tomorrow if I have time. If that does not work out, I will make sure that the Halifax has been restored before the end of the weekend."

"That's the risk of the profession, I think", the artist added. "I try to do it as well as possible, but I have to work with photos and I wasn't there myself. That is sometimes difficult."

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