Catalogue - Henri Goovaerts

Dating	presumably 1908
Material / technique	black and white chalk on paper
Dimensions	26 x 25 cm
Literature
Exhibitions
Provenance	Lucy Tilly 2005 Bequest by Lucy Tilly to the Tilly Family, Maastricht 2007 Gift by the Tilly Family, Maastricht to present owner
Current residence	L. Toonen, Wijnandsrade
Signature	none
Headings	b.l. 1908 (handwriting does not seem to be of Henri Goovaerts) passe-partout, verso, with pencil: Tekening H Goovaerts (may not have been written by Henri Goovaerts)
Remarks	This man is portrayed in a striking pose, the head bent over to the chest. Is he sleeping or maybe reading? No, he is probably occupied by a completely different activity, namely piano playing. We may be looking at the conductor and pianist Peter Gielen (1863-1943). This is likely because of the resemblance of the person portrayed with photographs of Gielen from around 1908. The provenance of the drawing also points in this direction since it is situated in the South Dutch music scene: Lucy Tillie (1919-2005) was a singer at among others the Zuid-Nederlandse Opera and the Royal Opera of Liège. Peter Gielen was about the same age as Goovaerts. He had studied at the Liège conservatory. Initially, Gielen worked in Maastricht as an organist in the Saint Matthias Church and as a piano teacher at the municipal music school. He became famous as a conductor of the Maastricht choir ‘the Mastreechter Staar’, a position that he fulfilled from 1891 to 1936. Peter Gielen and Henri Goovaerts must have met regularly in the circle of friends around the painter and writer Fons Olterdissen and his brother Guus Olterdissen, who was also a musician and who was married to Goovaerts' oldest sister Mai. On the back of the drawing is a sketch of Gielen's head. (References: Huub Noten, Jao diech höbs us aon 't hart gelege. Het leven van Fons Olterdissen, Maastricht 1996 http://401dutchdivas.nl/en/belgian-singers/265-lucy-tilly.html consulted 25 september 2019)

Dating

presumably 1908

Material / technique

black and white chalk on paper

Dimensions

26 x 25 cm

Literature

Exhibitions

Provenance

Lucy Tilly 2005 Bequest by Lucy Tilly to the Tilly Family, Maastricht 2007 Gift by the Tilly Family, Maastricht to present owner

Current residence

L. Toonen, Wijnandsrade

Signature

none

Headings

b.l. 1908 (handwriting does not seem to be of Henri Goovaerts) passe-partout, verso, with pencil: Tekening H Goovaerts (may not have been written by Henri Goovaerts)

Remarks

This man is portrayed in a striking pose, the head bent over to the chest. Is he sleeping or maybe reading? No, he is probably occupied by a completely different activity, namely piano playing. We may be looking at the conductor and pianist Peter Gielen (1863-1943). This is likely because of the resemblance of the person portrayed with photographs of Gielen from around 1908. The provenance of the drawing also points in this direction since it is situated in the South Dutch music scene: Lucy Tillie (1919-2005) was a singer at among others the Zuid-Nederlandse Opera and the Royal Opera of Liège. Peter Gielen was about the same age as Goovaerts. He had studied at the Liège conservatory. Initially, Gielen worked in Maastricht as an organist in the Saint Matthias Church and as a piano teacher at the municipal music school. He became famous as a conductor of the Maastricht choir ‘the Mastreechter Staar’, a position that he fulfilled from 1891 to 1936. Peter Gielen and Henri Goovaerts must have met regularly in the circle of friends around the painter and writer Fons Olterdissen and his brother Guus Olterdissen, who was also a musician and who was married to Goovaerts' oldest sister Mai. On the back of the drawing is a sketch of Gielen's head. (References: Huub Noten, Jao diech höbs us aon 't hart gelege. Het leven van Fons Olterdissen, Maastricht 1996 http://401dutchdivas.nl/en/belgian-singers/265-lucy-tilly.html consulted 25 september 2019)

Henri Goovaerts

Portrait study of Peter Gielen