In 1920, Hildo Krop planted a poplar tree in his garden on the Muidergracht Plantation. Thirty-two years later the tree had become so large that it had to be cut down. The woodcarver decided to saw the trunk in half and created this 3.5 metre high caryatid. A caryatid is a female figure that serves as a column. This particular work of art was never used as such, however. Hildo Krop was a visual artist who worked, amongst other things, on the decoration of the Amsterdam Scheepvaarthuis (shipping house), which was built on the Prins Hendrikkade between 1913 and 1916. In 1911 he won the Prix de Rome – the Dutch incentive prize for young artists – and from 1916 onwards he was the city’s official sculptor. During the years of the Nazi occupation, Krop was active in the Resistance. After the war he worked on a sculpture of the February Strikers, on the site of the Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats (New Eastern Cemetery). One of his famous statues is that of H.P. Berlage, located at the top of the Vrijheidslaan.