Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
18 Jul 1908
See full details
See transcription
Object Detail
Date
18 Jul 1908
Transcript
Dordrecht July 18th
My darling Mother
The time has really come for me to say goodbye to dear little Dordrecht. I am extremely sorry to go for it has been a very happy time on the whole in spite of bad times. I am sure to come back some day, every body who loves Dordt comes back sooner or later – it is such a beautiful old town & I wish you could see it for yourself. I have never been out of love with it all the time I have been here, its only drawback is that its climate is slack & relaxing in the spring & summer & nobody ever feels very brisk here but the natives. Everything has seemed specially beautiful these last few days just as I am going away – it is always so – “our blessings brighten as they take their flight”. I told you in my last that I might to to Katwyk-on-Zee for a time. I thought it might be a good plan to go & spy out the land before moving there with my baggage, so on Sunday I took a 3rd Class ticket & started off bright & early on a voyage of discovery. It was 1 ½ hours to Leyden & from there in a steam tram to Katwyk – the tram was crowded with perspiring humanity. When I reached Katwyk I found instead of the dear little fishing village I had expected a long esplanade lined with smart villas & expensive hotels – no place for the likes ‘o me – it was very entertaining & picturesque, for that side of life, smart people, gaily dressed children bathing boxes, men & women bathing out in the surf & the beach lined thick with multi-coloured humanity. I took a 2nd chair & sat & watched the fun. In early days, when the Dutch artists first discovered Katwyk & settled there it was a tiny little village half hidden in the sand dunes, with a quaint little 13th Century chapel, all white against the green sea, & the Katwyk women were famed for their beauty & beautiful costumes. The beauty & costumes are still here & the church but so swamped by these vulgar hotels that the old primitive beauty & solitude has quite vanished. Now the hoof of the tripper is on the land & prices are up & it is a prohibitive place to all but the well-to-do. I cast envious looks at little groups of fishwives sitting on the dunes against a pale green sky & sea – they were great big handsome creatures, haughty & expensive looking as if they knew their value – their clothes were the most splendid colour, petunia, bright green, dull blues, & rich golden brown & rose colours made in a simple full polonaise over a black underskirt, a silver cap tight fitting to the head & which gleamed through their lace caps on the top. The rich ones had all sorts of silver ornaments worn with great air & distinction. I hope Will & Sis will manage a run through Holland. It is such a tiny little country & railway travelling is cheap. I went to call on a sort of relation in law of the Richmonds, a Miss Cohen whose sister is an Atkinson I heard she was there – but she was not – had left. She is a fine artist I believe. I enquired at various pensions the price of rooms but they were all beyond me so I came back here, very pleased with my day’s outing but a little perplexed as to the future. I felt very fit & well & full of good salt air & just one dose of it had braced me up. Since then I have heard of a good & cheap place in North Holland, not far from Amsterdam, & only 6 miles from the sea & healthy. It is called Laren, the birth place of Mauve (whom I hope you have heard all about) – artists go there a lot & I believe interiors & models are good. I have written & secured a room & tomorrow I set off. I have spent a very busy 4 days, re-packing & saying goodbye to friends & finishing sketches etc.
I enclose Gertrude’s letter as it will give you a good idea of my plans, as far as I can look ahead. I shall be glad of a real rest & change in Yorkshire. I despair of any more pupils this summer. So many write for terms but none follow it up further. Miss Winthrop raised my hopes by saying she wanted to come back for more lessons but then changed her mind. Mr Lindner was here for a day in a friend’s yacht – making a cruise round the old Zuyder Zee towns. He came in to see me & has invited me to stay in Sept with them in Dorset. They are going to buy a beautiful old manor house described in Tess of the Durbervilles the same house where she & Clare go on their honeymoon. It wld be nice to stay in a place like that. I can’t go a-visiting in my old rags. I have had no new clothes since I left Wellington.
You wouldn’t think Dutch peole ugly if you could see the Katwyk women. My next letter will be from Laren & I shall have lots of things to tell you. Much love dearest to you all. Your loving Frances
My darling Mother
The time has really come for me to say goodbye to dear little Dordrecht. I am extremely sorry to go for it has been a very happy time on the whole in spite of bad times. I am sure to come back some day, every body who loves Dordt comes back sooner or later – it is such a beautiful old town & I wish you could see it for yourself. I have never been out of love with it all the time I have been here, its only drawback is that its climate is slack & relaxing in the spring & summer & nobody ever feels very brisk here but the natives. Everything has seemed specially beautiful these last few days just as I am going away – it is always so – “our blessings brighten as they take their flight”. I told you in my last that I might to to Katwyk-on-Zee for a time. I thought it might be a good plan to go & spy out the land before moving there with my baggage, so on Sunday I took a 3rd Class ticket & started off bright & early on a voyage of discovery. It was 1 ½ hours to Leyden & from there in a steam tram to Katwyk – the tram was crowded with perspiring humanity. When I reached Katwyk I found instead of the dear little fishing village I had expected a long esplanade lined with smart villas & expensive hotels – no place for the likes ‘o me – it was very entertaining & picturesque, for that side of life, smart people, gaily dressed children bathing boxes, men & women bathing out in the surf & the beach lined thick with multi-coloured humanity. I took a 2nd chair & sat & watched the fun. In early days, when the Dutch artists first discovered Katwyk & settled there it was a tiny little village half hidden in the sand dunes, with a quaint little 13th Century chapel, all white against the green sea, & the Katwyk women were famed for their beauty & beautiful costumes. The beauty & costumes are still here & the church but so swamped by these vulgar hotels that the old primitive beauty & solitude has quite vanished. Now the hoof of the tripper is on the land & prices are up & it is a prohibitive place to all but the well-to-do. I cast envious looks at little groups of fishwives sitting on the dunes against a pale green sky & sea – they were great big handsome creatures, haughty & expensive looking as if they knew their value – their clothes were the most splendid colour, petunia, bright green, dull blues, & rich golden brown & rose colours made in a simple full polonaise over a black underskirt, a silver cap tight fitting to the head & which gleamed through their lace caps on the top. The rich ones had all sorts of silver ornaments worn with great air & distinction. I hope Will & Sis will manage a run through Holland. It is such a tiny little country & railway travelling is cheap. I went to call on a sort of relation in law of the Richmonds, a Miss Cohen whose sister is an Atkinson I heard she was there – but she was not – had left. She is a fine artist I believe. I enquired at various pensions the price of rooms but they were all beyond me so I came back here, very pleased with my day’s outing but a little perplexed as to the future. I felt very fit & well & full of good salt air & just one dose of it had braced me up. Since then I have heard of a good & cheap place in North Holland, not far from Amsterdam, & only 6 miles from the sea & healthy. It is called Laren, the birth place of Mauve (whom I hope you have heard all about) – artists go there a lot & I believe interiors & models are good. I have written & secured a room & tomorrow I set off. I have spent a very busy 4 days, re-packing & saying goodbye to friends & finishing sketches etc.
I enclose Gertrude’s letter as it will give you a good idea of my plans, as far as I can look ahead. I shall be glad of a real rest & change in Yorkshire. I despair of any more pupils this summer. So many write for terms but none follow it up further. Miss Winthrop raised my hopes by saying she wanted to come back for more lessons but then changed her mind. Mr Lindner was here for a day in a friend’s yacht – making a cruise round the old Zuyder Zee towns. He came in to see me & has invited me to stay in Sept with them in Dorset. They are going to buy a beautiful old manor house described in Tess of the Durbervilles the same house where she & Clare go on their honeymoon. It wld be nice to stay in a place like that. I can’t go a-visiting in my old rags. I have had no new clothes since I left Wellington.
You wouldn’t think Dutch peole ugly if you could see the Katwyk women. My next letter will be from Laren & I shall have lots of things to tell you. Much love dearest to you all. Your loving Frances
Pages
8 pages
Sender's address
Dordrecht
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-21
Credit Line
Correspondence
-
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-21.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22858270
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22858270