Marie Daniels arrives with her mother in Ghent where the death of Karel Van Hulthem is being (1764-1832) commemorated. She becomes intrigued by the man whose goal of life was to dissipate knowledge to all.

As a simple daughter of a seamstress she is a knowledge sponge and autodidact through the books, art and plant collection Van Hulthem had managed to rescue from various occupiers.

When -In 1901-  she falls into the possession of a piece of land in the Karel Van Hulthemstreet she writes an eloquent letter to the mayor in order to achieve permission to build a house on it. The house is still there and so is her letter. Do come in.

The author explains

How intriguing it is to discover that -in 1901- a single seamstress  built the house where DeadPoet has its residence. Out of curiosity I started my research into Marie Daniels. She started intriguing me and since I had no clue about relatives, I went through the archives and demographic data of the city of Ghent. This lead took me to Hasselt where Marie grew up as a bastard child. I discovered writings by her and could only conclude that she had had decent education -in one or the other way- or that someone else had helped her.

I dove into historic works about the history of women in society, while Marie was at the back of my head. Although I was and am fully aware of the battle women have fought to be seen as a full-bodied person, I was shocked about the arrogance of the ruling “caste”, namely man. 

In legal texts women were equal to possession and hence dehumanized, like the “negro slaves” (terminology of that time) who were seen as merchandize. I read about the duality tween beauty and ugliness and how both could be disastrous. Beauty in women made them frivolous, ready for the take and after the passing of time also stupid. Ugliness isolated them and reduced them to slaves. On farms women worked the hardest and were the last to eat the remains of the food.

I decided the performance would also bring other women at the forefront next to Marie. That didn’t turn out to be difficult because a second given in the performance was brought to me by the street in which DeadPoet has its residence and which is named after Karel Van Hulthm, an advocate of art in general and books in particular. And just like women in art and history books have fallen between the pages he also has not received the attention he deserves. I studied the period in history in which he lived and discovered plenty of women at the background of politics but women of great influence. Moreover I decided to only use music by women composers from that time and they were numerous.

About Karel Van Hultem

Karel Van Hulthem (1764-1832) belonged to a noble line and studied law, philosophy, botany and took drawing lessons with Jan Van Reysschoot. He lived in an extremely turbulent age during which occupations by Austria and France took their turns and the Brabant Revolution took place. Especially the French occupation of Ghent led to plunderings. Van Hulthem had a passion for collecting art and managed to rescue a large part of the Ghent patrimony. One of the most important works he acquired was a series of Middle Dutch writings that have been preserved under the name Hulthem collection. 

In his professional life Van Hulthem was mainly a lawyer and politician and he acted as the representative for Ghent in many governmental institutions. Moreover he was principal of the Academy for Drawing, Sculpture and Painting and had a strong connection with the Ghent University. 

Books were an incredible source of knowledge to him and although he didn’t publish himself, he always came up with the right book whenever his students had a question. If Van Hulthem would be alive today, he would be a human hyperlink.

His books and collection of writings form the basis for the Ghent University Library and the Royal Library in Brussels.

His love for the fine arts compelled him to rescue 200 confiscated works from the French occupier. These works are the original basic collection of the Museum for the Fine Arts.

About Marie Daniels

Marie Daniels built and owned 2 mansions at the Karel Van hulthemstreet, among which the house where the seat of DeadPoet npo is located.

She was born in 1858 as a bastard. Her mother was only 19 years old and they lived in the Walputsteeg in Hasselt. They probably moved to Ghent because the mother was a seamstress and Ghent was an important city for the textile industry at that time. Marie was 10 years when she arrived in Ghent and also became a seamstress.

Little can be found about her family or relatives and it is remarkable that Marie - being a simple seamstress - is able to order the building of 2 large mansions - the first in 1901 and the second later in 1903. Moreover the blueprints and letters she wrote to the mayor have been preserved. The letters are written in a perfect Dutch and French and show a distinct level of education.

Marie never got married and had no children; she died in 1954. At that moment she had already sold the houses.

In Marie’s life women play an important role and the residents of the house are now also mainly women. However at the age of Marie and of Karel Van Hulthem women in art and history are difficult to trace back.

Both the personae of Marie and of Karel and the love for art provide the inspiration for this historic monologue. Research into women in art is an extra drive for making this performance.