Why He Left Home
ONE day I ‘Teceived a visit from a Dutch artist who had come to Christchurch to collect pictures for an exhibition in Holland. During our conversation he asked me if I had ever met Van der Velden in New Zealand. He also asked me if I had ever heard why Van left Holland. I answered no, and he told me the following story:
When Van was a young painter the King of Holland used to- give a prize and scholarship for the best painting of the year. One year Van sent in a large picture. The two judges were Mesday and Israels. Israels the elder, was a fine painter, and Mesday a rich collector of art treasures, and an amateur painter. The prize was given to Israels’s son, now known as Israels the younger, and
naturally the scholarship also. This, it appears, so infuriated Van that he went to Israels and told him just what he thought of judges who gave prizes to their sons. But what was worse he rated Mesday so soundly that this latter went to all the art dealers and told them that if they bought or sold any more of Van der Velden’s pictures, he, Mesday, wouldn’t enter their galleries again. This meant a complete boycott ,of Van’s work in Holland and starvation for the whole family. So Van took the only course ‘open to him, he left Holland, and as he had some friends here, he came to New Zealand. -("People, Pictures and Painters,’ Sydney Thompson, 3YA, September 4.)
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 118, 26 September 1941, Page 5
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259Why He Left Home New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 118, 26 September 1941, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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