* a single collectable colour postcard of the work of the Victorian artist Edouard van Goethem *
Size: roughly 15 x 10 cm
Printed by Gallery Five
Unposted, unwritten
Reverse: simple
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Edouard
Van Goethem was born 1863 in Brugge, the son of a Belgian father and
Irish mother. His parents set up an orphanage for Protestant children
and his father also ran the family sugar refinery. There were five
children in the family and the eldest son eventually took over the
running of the refinery. Edouard was not interested in business. He
cared only for music and art and was educated at the Lycee and
Conservatoire. He suffered from ill health throughout his life
and went to Algiers for the climate. There he met Lucy Lafone who was
also on a visit. They were married from her parents' house in Dulwich
but lived in Brussels. Their four children were born there and Edouard
devoted his life to painting. When the refinery failed, the
family moved to England and settled in Parkstone which overlooks Poole
harbour. It is likely that they lived under the generosity of Lucy's
father as Edouard never took a job and did not sell his paintings.
He preferred painting in watercolour and most of his pictures of children were done at Parkstone. He
was a very conservative and self-disciplined man, maybe because of his
poor health. He took two walks a day of exactly the same duration, drank
only hot water and ate sparingly. His wife ran the house and dealt with
all practical matters including money. Edouard's only son died
while training to be a pilot in 1917 and Edouard himself died after a
long illness in 1924 and was buried next to his son in Parkstone
cemetery. |