Portrait of Sophie Grossier-Albert
| Dating | April 15, 1897 |
|---|---|
| Material / technique | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 50 x 30 cm |
| Literature | |
| Exhibitions | |
| Provenance | Grossier Family, Maastricht, the Netherlands |
| Current residence | private property Heerlen, the Netherlands |
| Signature | b.r. with paint: HRI GOOVAERTS 15/4 97 |
| Headings | verso, with black paint, possibly not written by Goovaerts: M.A.H. SOPHIE ALBERT // NAT. 2 JUNI 1833 // [symbol indicating the date of death] 31 MAART 1915 verso on the stretcher, label with inscription: eigendom van L. Grossier-Wijnands [meaning: owned by L. Grossier-Wijnands] |
| Remarks | In 1866 Marie Anne Hubertine Sophie Albert (1833-1915) married the Maastricht pharmacist Victor Grossier. Grossier dies two years later, only 37 years old. He will not experience the birth of his second child, a son: Albert. The first child, a daughter, dies shortly afterwards at the age of three. More than thirty years later, Henri Goovaerts portrays this couple, who had been married for such a short time. The portraits of Sophie Albert and Victor Grossier have the same dimensions; we may take them for a diptych. The patron is most likely their only living child: Albert Grossier. Albert Grossier and his wife Louisa Wijnands also had two of their children be portrayed by Goovaerts at that time. Two years after the death of her husband, Sophie Albert will marry again. With her new husband, Leonhard Jacob Robert Schoepp, she will have three children. |