Vereeniging ter Bevordering van Fabriek- en Handwerknijverheid in Nederland 1863

This bronze medal without a specified date, by Noordwal, commemorates the ‘Association for the Promotion of Factory and Handicraft Industry in the Netherlands’. The Netherlands' industrial revolution lagged behind other European countries. This medal reflects the cultural and economic anxieties of a nation grappling with modernization. The figure on the front of the medal, draped in classical garb, gestures towards industry and craftsmanship, embodying the tension between traditional values and the burgeoning factory system. Consider what this medal omits. Where are the workers, the human faces behind the gears and looms? In whose hands did industrial progress rest, and who benefited from it? The medal speaks of progress, but this notion begs the question: Progress for whom, and at what cost? It’s a potent reminder that history is never neutral. Ultimately, this medal invites us to reflect on the complexities of progress, urging us to question whose stories are told, and whose are left out of the historical narrative.