| Remarks |
No effort was spared when two memorable events were celebrated in Maastricht on July 20, 1912: the 50th anniversary of the pottery factory Societé Céramique and the 50th anniversary of its director: Victor Jaunez. The festivities started with a High Mass in the Saint Martinus church. Then there was a reception in the factory, where a temporary party room was created with music, flowers, champagne and cigars. The workers were offered coupons for beer and sandwiches. Then followed a banquet, a celebration in the city park and a concert with drinks and the opportunity to dance. In the evening there was a musical parade through the city in which all departments of the factory were represented; from potters and oven operators to pottery decorators, warehousemen and packers. Altogether, the parade consisted of almost 2,000 people, divided into twelve different business groups. The procession, in which each group wore a different colour of balloons, was closed by three carriages in which the board members were seated. The day ended with fabulous fireworks along the river Maas.
The extent of this party indicates the importance of the factory for the city of Maastricht in those days. The factory workers participated fully in all festivities and although Jaunez was known as a factory manager who was good for his workers, there were some critical notes in the socialist weekly ‘De Volkstribuun’ of those days. The magazine regarded the generous serving of beer to the workers (men, women and children) as an intoxication intended to make them forget the miserable circumstances they had to work in for the profit of the company’s shareholders and managers. (De Volkstribuun July 19, 1912.) The lavishly pouring of alcohol on that July 20th had major consequences. ‘De Volkstribuun’ wrote: ‘The Céramique has "celebrated". Saturday was a drunken happening in Wyck [the neighbourhood in Maastricht where the factory was located]. On Sunday at the procession it was the same. On Monday most workers stayed at home; the workers who had gone to the factory decided to leave the work behind.’ (De Volkstribuun July 26, 1912.) Afterwards the beer brewer Marres sent the caterer of the city park an extra bill for 264 bottles of liquor. At the bottom of the bill he wrote: ‘I am sorry to inform you that the above number of bottles have been broken, thrown away or taken away by the workmen and I cannot possibly compensate for these damages myself.’
At the reception that morning, when the booze was still in the bottle, director Jaunez had received various gifts from the staff of the factory. Among these gifts was this portrait, painted by Henri Goovaerts. The party committee had paid Goovaerts 350 guilders for it. Frame maker Nijssen-Stols supplied the Louis XVI frame for 38 guilders.
Goovaerts himself was among the guests of honor at the party. As ‘Goovaerts – peintre’ he is on the guest list, that includes the priest, the mayor and aldermen, the ministers, lawyers and industrialists. He had portrayed many of them. The documents remaining from this celebration tell us that Goovaerts has confirmed his presence at the party in advance. We therefore assume that he actually has attended this spectacle only one month before his sudden death.
(reference: Social Historical Centre Limburg (SHCL), EAN 1013, inv.no. 87)
The current residence of this portrait is unknown. Today we only know the painting from the photograph shown here, made by A. Frequin, Photographie d'objets d'art, The Hague (Social Historical Centre Limburg (SHCL), Beeldcollectie Sphinx, EAN 1012, inv.no. SPHINX00010).
The Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht has a male portrait by Goovaerts, that has a photograph of Jaunez glued on the back. Possibly Goovaerts used that photograph as additional reference while painting the portrait discussed here. |
