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TV4CHANGE
Viewing by request at the Abbey Walk Gallery, Grimsby.
L'Incompris - The Misunderstood
By artist Jeanne Donnadieu (French 1864 - )
Approximately 125 years ago a portrait of an eccentric yet immensely interesting man was skilfully drawn in pastels by a young lady called Jeanne Donnadieu. There were words that were written on the wall and therefore drawn into the picture, “L’Incompris”. The Misunderstood. Exhibited in 1892 under that very title it is startling to find that the portrait must have indeed been misunderstood, for amazingly, nobody had noticed who it was a portrait of!
The exhibition label on the reverse was the key to unlocking much. The address of the artist was given as being “17 rue Victor Massé”. Just any address? It appeared so until research uncovered the fact that rue Victor Massé was a renamed road.
In 1887 the name change took place and disguised an incredibly important detail that enabled “The Misunderstood” to be understood. The previous name was rue Laval.
Rue laval. Jeanne Donnadieu was able to be traced to that same address from 1885 to 1897.
Number 17.
And at number 25 - just 4 doors up - lived Vincent van Gogh.
1886, when Vincent moved into rue Laval with his brother, Theo, and drove him scatty with his messiness, when he sketched, among many subjects, a crumpled top hat on a statuette of Venus, when he was painted by other artists than himself, when he was known to own the huge gilt-cornered Bible that had belonged to his father and he had painted the previous year, when he painted pictures of his own boots…and when rue Laval was teeming with the most extraordinary artists history has ever known!
The Misunderstood. It disappears off the scene.
In 2010 it surfaces!
By artist Jeanne Donnadieu (French 1864 - )
Approximately 125 years ago a portrait of an eccentric yet immensely interesting man was skilfully drawn in pastels by a young lady called Jeanne Donnadieu. There were words that were written on the wall and therefore drawn into the picture, “L’Incompris”. The Misunderstood. Exhibited in 1892 under that very title it is startling to find that the portrait must have indeed been misunderstood, for amazingly, nobody had noticed who it was a portrait of!
The exhibition label on the reverse was the key to unlocking much. The address of the artist was given as being “17 rue Victor Massé”. Just any address? It appeared so until research uncovered the fact that rue Victor Massé was a renamed road.
In 1887 the name change took place and disguised an incredibly important detail that enabled “The Misunderstood” to be understood. The previous name was rue Laval.
Rue laval. Jeanne Donnadieu was able to be traced to that same address from 1885 to 1897.
Number 17.
And at number 25 - just 4 doors up - lived Vincent van Gogh.
1886, when Vincent moved into rue Laval with his brother, Theo, and drove him scatty with his messiness, when he sketched, among many subjects, a crumpled top hat on a statuette of Venus, when he was painted by other artists than himself, when he was known to own the huge gilt-cornered Bible that had belonged to his father and he had painted the previous year, when he painted pictures of his own boots…and when rue Laval was teeming with the most extraordinary artists history has ever known!
The Misunderstood. It disappears off the scene.
In 2010 it surfaces!
MAP
RUE VICTOR MASSÉ - FORMERLY RUE LAVAL (RUE DE LAVAL)