Family

Youthful self portrait. Unsigned oil painting on woven fabric on cardboard, 37 x 29.5cm, in the Hugo Naudé House (Studio upstairs), Worcester.

Pieter Hugo Naudé was born 23 July 18697 on the farm “Aan-de-Doorns” just east of Worcester in the Western Cape, South Africa.  He was the fifth child of Catharina Adriana Hugo (6 September 1835 – 5 February 1874)8 and David Francois Naudé (10 August 1826 - 6 September 1898):

Photo (“mooi fotokopie”) of Catharina by Miss Heatley of De Wet, Worcester district (Philip Naudé’s Huldeblyk aan ons Ouma Catherina Adriana Hugo September 1837-Februarie 1874 – 36 jaar).
Preliminary sketch for Portrait of my Father 1896 which belonged to his nephew and his namesake according to “Wollie’s” talk (“Hugo Naudé – The man”, on 25 February 1970 for SA National Gallery [now Iziko Museum, Cape Town] Retrospective Exhibition – in Pretoria end 1969 – for the centenary anniversary of his birth).

The day and month dates of David’s birth & death are taken from a decorative family tree which apparently hung on the wall at “Aan-de-Doorns”9 and now resides in the Kleinplasie Museum Archives, Worcester.10

They lived in a beautiful 1800 Cape Dutch farmhouse:

Old farmhouse at Aan-de-Doorns. According to Philip Naudé all the artist’s siblings were born here and the homestead was later demolished to be replaced by a “more modern farm house” (Die Ou Familieplaas).

His mother died when Naudé was only five years old. She had given birth to six children by then:

Photo of the Naudé siblings later. Back row from left to right: the artist Pieter Hugo (1869-1941), Catherina Elizabeth (13 April 1863-1939), Jacob Stephanus (7 January 1865-1942) & Cloete (31 July 1871-1946); seated in front row: Wouter Hugo (1 November 1862-1928) and David Johannes (10 March 1856-1934). Dates are taken from Philip Naudé’s family register, and floral family tree mentioned above which gives birth dates and months and differs from Philip’s birth years for David: 1858, Catherina: 1860 and the artist: 1868.

His father later married her cousin, Magrietha Elizabeth le Roux Hugo and 4 more children were born here.

Next
  1. 1868 seems to have originated from an insurance company’s error according to nephew Wouter “Wollie” du Toit Naudé (talk notes for the Worcester branch of the S.A. Association of Arts/SAAA, given on 9 September 1982). According to the Hugo Naudé House Curator, Anél O’Neill, his birth was not registered (telephone conversation March 2019).  Uncertainty shrouded the exact date of birth: apparently in late July, so the 23rd was chosen. No birth date could be found in the Cape Town or Pretoria Archives, or NG Church baptism registers of Worcester, Paarl, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Ceres or Cape Town (Adriaan Jacobus Roets, Die Kuns van Pieter Hugo Naudé, M.A. UNISA Thesis, 1975, p.187, App.C & endnote 1 on p.190).  The birthday book entry by his sister-in-law, Maria Elizabeth Jacoba Naudé, née Kloppers (“Ouma Lala”), and the church wedding record for Hugo and Julie confirm the date and year as 23 July 1969. See Etching at King’s Road College, London & Marriage: 1913 to 1914 for marriage certificate.↩︎
  2. 1838 appears on “Wollie’s” photo of “Catharina’s” grave (see forthcoming Appendix A); the months September 1837 and February 1874 appear in Philip Naudé’s family register.  Thanks to Amelia at the Huguenot Memorial Museum, Franschhoek for confirming birth date and giving their marriage date 28.4.1857.  According to the artist’s brother Cloete’s son, Philippus “Philip” Petrus Naudé (b.1916), 15 graves at “Aan-de-Doorns” were unmarked (Aan Familie, Afstammelinge en Belangstellendes, p.2), so these relatively recent gravestones of the “Stammoeder and Stamvader” may also have incorrect dates as has been the case in his family register? Catharina’s official Death Notice gives “Age of the Deceased” as 37 years, so records do differ.↩︎
  3. Dr Julian Kritzinger, “1869-2019: Die 150-Jarige Geboorteherdenking van Hugo Naudé- Die Man Wie Ons Geleer Het Wat Dit Is Om Werklik te Sien”, published as a series every Thursday in the Worcester Standard, 1-22 August 2019, bl.3 foto 8.↩︎
  4. Confirmed by J. Kritzinger, via email, 25 July 2022.↩︎