Catalogue - Henri Goovaerts

Dating	1884 - 1887
Material / technique	pencil and ink (pen) on paper
Dimensions	14 x 18 cm (paper: 24 x 31 cm)
Literature
Exhibitions
Provenance	Frits Goovaerts circa 1985 Gift by Frits Goovaerts to present owner
Current residence	private property Utrecht, the Netherlands
Signature	b. with ink: HGoovaerts [underlined]
Headings	l. with ink: MISÈRE [underlined]
Remarks	In a small and shabby room, a father is sleeping at the table, while one of his children pulls on his sleeve. In the background, mother sits with the baby while we see a third child on the floor and a fourth one in a crib in the back of the room. It is a small sketch for what may have become a large painting and a typical 19th century example of social realism, in which the poor urban people become the subject of the visual arts. We see a similar theme in Goovaerts’ painting ‘Alcohol’ from 1905, in which we find a family in a sober interior after an outbreak of domestic violence. The drawing 'Misery' is part of a sketchbook that Henri Goovaerts received from his Maastricht friends on August 24, 1884, probably to take with him to his final year of study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Mechelen, Belgium. On the back of the page are some figure studies in pencil.

Dating

1884 - 1887

Material / technique

pencil and ink (pen) on paper

Dimensions

14 x 18 cm (paper: 24 x 31 cm)

Literature

Exhibitions

Provenance

Frits Goovaerts circa 1985 Gift by Frits Goovaerts to present owner

Current residence

private property Utrecht, the Netherlands

Signature

b. with ink: HGoovaerts [underlined]

Headings

l. with ink: MISÈRE [underlined]

Remarks

In a small and shabby room, a father is sleeping at the table, while one of his children pulls on his sleeve. In the background, mother sits with the baby while we see a third child on the floor and a fourth one in a crib in the back of the room. It is a small sketch for what may have become a large painting and a typical 19th century example of social realism, in which the poor urban people become the subject of the visual arts. We see a similar theme in Goovaerts’ painting ‘Alcohol’ from 1905, in which we find a family in a sober interior after an outbreak of domestic violence. The drawing 'Misery' is part of a sketchbook that Henri Goovaerts received from his Maastricht friends on August 24, 1884, probably to take with him to his final year of study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Mechelen, Belgium. On the back of the page are some figure studies in pencil.