Fisherman's wife with child - Harderwijk

Tense, the fisherwoman peers out over the sea in vain. Comfortingly, she keeps an arm around her child who has grasped her skirt. She fears her lover will not return from the sea. This 1975 limestone statue recalls the time when Harderwijk was still a fishing town on the Zuiderzee and fishermen regularly died while working.

Initially, a plaque was placed near the statue with the names of Harderwijk fishermen who died. However, this list proved incomplete. Therefore, in 2022, the additional fishermen's monument 'The Fishermen Who Didn't Come Home' was placed next to the fisherman's wife. It consists of an undulating slab of Corten steel with a bone model and in it carved the names of all 58 fishermen who perished, accompanied by the text of the poem 'The last sail' by Michel Martinus.

Artist Gerry van der Velden (Helvoirt, 1947) specialises in drawing and sculpture. She mainly depicts animals and people. Several Dutch municipalities have added one or more of her sculptures to the streetscape, including the large waving hand 'Hello' in Kesteren, 'The Bull' in Zoelen and 'The Cow' in Hesselt.

The fishermen's monument 'The Fishermen Who Didn't Come Home' was designed by Textline Advertising Centre Harderwijk.