Portrait of a girl with rosary

During one of his stays in the province of Twente in the early years of the 20th century, Bart van der Leck must have painted 'Portrait of a girl with rosary'. Up until recently the painting has never left Twente. His subjects during this period where close to home and were largely based on political and social themes: Factory workers returning home, people in a bar or at the market. He was almost always depicting the working class. Portraits from this period have the same aim, showing life as it is, not idealising it. Bart van der Leck painted and sketched several young schoolgirls. It seems likely that these girls were students in the school were Bertha, Bart van der Leck's wife, was teaching. (See for a comparable work Het zieke meisje, from 1907, sold in these rooms on 10 June 1999, lot no. 304). These portraits all have the same character: the paintings are deprived from all distracting details, the sitter is staring, looking at nothing, seemingly in contemplation; all elements seem to be in function of the main character of this work: Melancholy.