| Remarks |
Marie Judith Jeannette Kneepkens was only five years old when she died of polio on January 10, 1908. Henri Goovaerts was commissioned by her family, the well-known silversmith family Esser from Weert (the Netherlands), to portray the girl after her death. A small photograph of Judith with her doll carriage was the starting point for this. The portrait clearly shows that the representation of clothing and jewelery in oil paint was one of the specialties of the craftsmanship of Henri Goovaerts. In addition to the small photograph, Goovaerts examined the left clothes and the jewels of the girl in order to bring her to life on the canvas as much as possible. Judith is depicted here in the rose covered backyard of her parents house. Noteworthy is the unnatural pose of little Judith. She probably suffered not only from polio but also from scoliosis.
As far as we know Henri Goovaerts painted three portraits in the Limburg town of Weert, in the south of the Netherlands, all three of them in the year 1908. In addition to the portrait of Judith, Henri Goovaerts painted in 1908 the portraits of Petrus and Anna Hermans, a couple owning a wholesale business in colonial goods in Weert as well as a coffee roastery and a vinegar factory. It is likely that Henri Goovaerts received one portrait assignment through the other. We do not know which of the two assignments was the first. |
