People around Philippe Smit
Jacobus Smit (1850-1940)
Jacobus Smit was born in 1850 in Zwolle, a town in the north of the Netherlands. He married Clotilde Courdy on 1 May 1873. The couple had eight children, the seventh being Philippe. They lived in Zwolle, where Jacobus worked as a hairdresser before moving with his family to Paris in 1895. Clotilde died in 1910.1
In Paris, Jacobus became concierge at the Hôtel Montaigne. This position enabled him to introduce his clients, the Urban couple, to his son Philippe – an encounter that would prove pivotal in Philippe’s life.
Jacobus remained close to his son, sharing his spiritual explorations and his poetic and musical passions. In a few observations, René Massé described him as a cheerful, handsome elderly man with the air of an artist - someone who dabbled in drawing and was once absorbed in working on a "perpetual motion machine".2 3
In a note likely written after 19204, Jacobus expressed his deepened faith, shaped by the recent death of his daughter Emma, and his profound admiration for Philippe's artistic achievements "[...] my thoughts about him and his art have been surpassed [...] All this swells my heart with a pride that sings [...]"
This affection was mutual. Once he was in a position to do so, Philippe welcomed his father into his home.
Over a span of thirty years, the painter produced numerous studies of his father, culminating in three finished portraits5. Jacobus also appears in several of Philippe’s compositions, notably The Merry-Go-Round, completed in 19456.
1. See also Chronology 1886-1913.
2. See Massé 1920-1935, 13 December 1931, p. [20], 2 April 1933, p. [24], 9 November p. [28 et 29].
3. According to family tradition, Philippe Smit's father had an eccentric side and spent his time building machines, a hobby whose details and even less the results are unknown.
4. Smit, Jacobus 1920 (post –), p. 1 and 2 « […] mes pensées sur lui et sur son art ont été surpassées […] Tout ça me gonfle le cœur d’un orgueil qui chante […] ».
5. [PS 165], [PS 301], [PS 330].
6. [PS 434], [PS 435], [PS 517].
Jacobus Smit with Mariam, eldest daughter of Theodor and Marijke Pitcairn in the park of Thoury-Ferrottes, c. 1929/30 (photograph from Lotty Urban's album, private archives Paris).
Jacobus Smit, Berendina and Lotty on a beach in the south of France during their trip to Saint-Raphaël in the Var, 1932 (photograph from Lotty Urban's album, private archives Paris).