Portrait of an injured KNIL soldier, Isaac Israels, 1882.
Because the Dutch could not pronounce his name, this West African soldier was given the primal Dutch name Kees Pop. In the old slave centre Elmina - now Ghana - many soldiers were recruited to fight in the Dutch colonial army. Pop' enlisted in 1869 for twelve years and fought in the Aceh War. He received some awards for it. Isaac Israels portrayed him - with medals - in the Netherlands just before his return to Africa.
Portrait of a Kees Pop, a soldier in the service of the Dutch East Indies Army. The medal with blue ribbon, half hidden under the sling, is the Aceh medal. This was established by the Royal Decree of 12 May 1874 as a reward for the participants in the first Aceh campaign in 1873/1874. The participants in this campaign also received the Cross for Important Warfare, the left-hand award on the portrait with the green-orange ribbon.
