| Remarks |
According to the previous owner, the woman on the portrait is 'zaat Anneke' (drunk Anneke), a characteristic popular woman from the streets of Maastricht around 1900. A Dutch newspaper (The Delftse Courant) of May 21, 1900 reports on the Maastricht fair and on the peculiar types that were to be found there. One of them is Anneke: 'an old woman of about sixty years old, with dragging skirts and torn apron. Her eyes are so strange and her nose swallows incredible amounts of snuff.' The author describes how she is mocked and chased by rascals as she begs for some change. Change, not only meant for the five children she has to take care of, but also for her glass of gin. In the work of writer Fons Olterdissen, a good friend of Henri Goovaerts, 'Zaat Anneke' was a subject too. He gave her a role in his ‘Prose works in Maastricht dialect’. In the chapter 'Street types' he looks back on striking popular types from his city, including drunk Anneke: 'She often posed for painters, but she never came alone since she used to bring along enough company, of which she willingly left some behind.' |
