His father was a scion of the ancient Dutch noble house of Ripperda.
The Ripperda family was one of the oldest and most powerful noble families in the Ommelanden, nowadays known as the province of Groningen in The Netherlands.
Her bronze of Kenau and Wigbolt Ripperda for Haarlem was originally designed in a smaller version for the Ripperda renovation project in 2009, but was rejected in favor of a more abstract work.