It was fatal news: the sudden death of our boy, a three-day illness ended his life. What is our house empty.. .,which for eight years [age of their son] was the illusion of our lives. Fortunately for us that we love art and let us hope that we [Mesdag and Sientje, his wife] continue to dedicate our lives to our painting, which has given me already so much pleasure.. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It was fatal news: the sudden death of our boy, a three-day illness ended his life. What is our house empty.. .,which for eight years [age of their son] was the illusion of our lives. Fortunately for us that we love art and let us hope that we [Mesdag and Sientje, his wife] continue to dedicate our lives to our painting, which has given me already so much pleasure.. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)" in the context of "(original Dutch: citaat van Hendrik Willem Mesdag's brief, in het Nederlands:) Het was wel fataal nieuws: de plotselinge dood van onze jongen, een ziekte van drie dagen maakte een einde aan zijn leven. Wat is ons huis leeg.. .,die gedurende 8 jaren [leeftijd van hun zoon] de illusie van ons leven was. Gelukkig voor ons dat we van kunst houden en laten wij hopen dat wij {Mesdag èn Sientje, zijn vrouw] doorgaan ons leven te wijden aan ons schilderen, dat mij reeds zo veel genot heeft gegeven..
 • In a letter to his Belgium friend, the painter A. Verwee, 12 Oct. 1871; as cited in Hendrik Willem Mesdag 1831 – 1915; De Schilder van de Noordzee, Johan Poort; Mesdag Documentaire Stichting cop, ISBN 90-74192-14-9; 2001, p. 43" to mean that wisdom is timeless.