Notes

“When Pieter Willem Frederick Wenning (1873-1921) came to South Africa from the Netherlands at the age of 32, he was not known as an artist. With little formal art training, he started his working life in Pretoria as a clerk with the booksellers De Bussy in Pretorius Street. He acquired a house for his family at 28 Rissik Street.

“Shortly after he had settled in his Rissik Street residence, he made a pencil sketch of Harmonie. The area near Scheiding and Rissik Streets, up to Mears Street, was part of the original Elandspoort farm. When the farm was subdivided in 1875, this portion became known as Harmonie.

“…in 1916 the government bought Harmonie and it became part of the campus of the Pretoria Normal College. The original house was used to accommodate male students, but in 1926 the building had to make way for a multi-storey residence, Harmonie. The buildings on the property were later taken over by the Pretoria College of Education and are now utilized by UNISA.”¹

¹ Bolsmann, E. (2001) Pretoria: Artists’ impressions 1857-2001, Pretoria: Protea Book House. page 133

Provenance

Mrs C.A. te Water Naudé

Exhibited

The South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Pieter Wenning: An Exhibition to Commemorative the Centenarary of the Birth of the Artist, September 1973, catalogue number 18

Literature

Bolsmann, Eric. (2001) Pretoria: Artists' Impressions 1857-2001, Pretoria: Protea Book House. Mentioned on pages 133-136.