The master behind the masterpieces
Jacob Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef was born in Pretoria on 13 August 1886 to a Dutch builder and the daughter of a Voortrekker. He attended the Staats Model School in Pretoria, where he had his first art classes.
The Pierneefs’ quiet lives, along with thousands of others, were upended by the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War (1899 to 1902). When Pretoria surrendered to the British in May 1900, the family chose deportation over internment and sailed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Here, the young Pierneef continued his
