Haagse Jantje

When I went over to Apeldoorn to study with Yvonne last summer she took Ann and myself to The Hague to see a Becquinage. Afterwards we walked around the city. Near the Parliament is a statue of a small boy, Haagse Jantje, I was amazed by the detailed lace reproduced on the statue, so wanted to share the beauty with you.

Every child in the Netherlands learns a song about Haagse Jantje, translated here:

In The Hague there lives a Count And his son’s name is Jantje If you ask him ´where’s your daddy live?´ He’ll point with his little hand and then with his finger and thumb On his hat there is a feather On his arm is a basket Bye bye sweet Jantje

Count Floris V is the count in the song, and, in addition to having a son named Jantje, he completed the construction of the Knight’s Hall, or Ridderzaal, in the count’s castle in the 13th century. Sadly Jantje died at the age of 13 but he’s remembered with a statue, on the Lange Vijverberg, across from the Mauritshuis, of a little boy pointing to the roof of the Knight’s Hall.

In Dutch, as you can see, it rhymes;
In Den Haag daar woont een graaf,
En zijn zoon heet Jantje
Als je vraagt waar woont zijn pa,
Dan wijst hij met zijn handje
Met zijn vinger en zijn duim
Op zijn hoofd draagt hij een pluim
Aan zijn arm een mandje,
Dag mijn lieve Jantje.

Janice Cole