'Piet Pelle'.
Ko Doncker was a Dutch illustrator, comic artist, writer and shadow-player. He was a classmate of Jan Feith, and attended the Kunstnijverheidschool in Haarlem. After his studies, he spent several years in Belgium, England and France, where he worked as a background painter for the World's fair of 1894, a designer of wallpapers and a caricaturist for the satirical magazine Le Rire, respectively. Back in The Netherlands, he was a contributor to the satirical magazine De Ware Jacob, De Groene Amsterdammer and Haarlems Dagblad, and the author of two picture stories starring 'Dr. Mol' in 1900.
Comic strip by Kon Doncker, 1905.
In 1912, Doncker created the comic character 'Piet Pelle' for bicycle factory Gazelle. This character was used again in the 1950s by Gustaaf Boissevain and is known to this day. Another advertising comic by Doncker was 'De Reis van Mijnheer Haverstok' for the suitcase factory Verweegen & Kok (1912). In 1917, Henri van de Velde also made an advertising comic about Mr. Haverstok for the same company.
'Ui Bene Purgat. Bene Curat'. Comic strip from De Ware Jacob, by Ko Doncker.
Doncker introduced the limerick in The Netherlands and was one of the first successful shadowplay artists. He died on Easter Saturday in 1917 at the age of 43. In the Dutch city Almere, a path was named after the character 'Piet Pelle' in 2004, as part of the "Comics Heroes" district.
'Wezens Die Je Toch Nooit Ziet'. Comic strip from De Ware Jacob, by Ko Doncker (1905).