Anne-Judith, 1952

<p>Dated 1952, it was painted during the last quarter. Anne-Judith (born 1946) was the daughter of the Brussels bookseller Albert Van Loock, an old army friend of Marien’s and the brother of his girlfriend, Elisabeth Altenloh. Van Look told us that Magritte undertook the portrait in order to find the solution to the problem of painting a child, and this is borne out by a letter Magritte wrote Marien on 9 October in which he said:</p><p><i>“J’ai commencé un portrait de la petite Judith (Judid, Judith, Judidh?) car je voudrais savoir comment le charme qu’elle ap-porte pourrait opérer ave l’intervention picturale qui est mon fait dans cette affaire.</i></p><p><i>I have begun a portrait of little Judith (Judid, Judith, Judidh?) because I would like to know how the charm she emanates would interact with the painting process which is my responsibility in this business.”</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>Van Loock told us that Anne-Judith sat for Magritte six times at the rue Esseghem. She also posed for a pencil sketch, fig. a, which is dated 1951.</p><p>Magritte probably made a present of the painting to Van Loock, with whom it remained until September 1972.</p>