Portrait of alderman Eltjo Rugge and his wife

About this artwork.

In 1936, painter Jan Altink (1885 - 1971) painted the double portrait of the Groningen alderman Eltjo Rugge (1872-1950) with his wife Anna Rugge - Mulder. Eltjo and Anna Rugge celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in the summer of 1936 and on that occasion had themselves painted by Jan Altink, a prominent member of the Groningen art society De Ploeg. The work has always remained in the family's possession until the municipality bought it in 1999 from Rugge's grandson Anne, who was named after his grandmother Anna Rugge-Mulder.

Jan Altink painted the couple very appropriately within the atmosphere of the house and garden, sitting between the flowering shrubs, with just the corner of a brick house on the right. Of course, the man appeared in the first place as a husband, but Altink profiled him just as much as the great administrator he had become over the years. The proud face betrays Rugge's inflexible character. Altink painted a state portrait of Eltjo Rugge, while Anna with her round back, shiny red cheeks and stiffly permed hair is above all the mother of the nine children she had with Rugge.

Eltjo was the first person to be included in the Gulden Book of Groningen in 1941. Registration therein can be regarded as the highest form of appreciation, equivalent to honorary citizenship.

Rugge became a member of the SDAP in the founding year of 1894. He would hold many positions for this party. In 1896 he founded the local workers' constituency, and in 1901 he became the second SDAP municipal councilor in the city, where he was also a correspondent for the national party newspaper.

Rugge was considered a socialist on principle. In 1918, for example, he and Troelstra made a mistake about the willingness of the Dutch to revolutionize. Although elected as a Member of Parliament that year, in 1922 he found himself in an ineligible place and then ended up in poverty for a while. However, he did not want to move from Groningen.

In 1924 he became alderman for Public Works and Housing, which was also his specialism in the council. He energetically devoted himself to slum clearance and new construction. The city also got sewage instead of the primitive barrel system. In connection with this, many impassable streets were improved and made suitable for bicycle and car traffic. In addition, facilities such as swimming pools, bathhouses and playgrounds were added.

Rugge was dismissed as alderman during the war, then returned as a councilor for a while, but then became permanently sidetracked. He was a stiff, headstrong and easily hurt man, who did not shy away from conflict, but who was also a worthy administrator. As an autodidact who developed through self-study, he became a source of information within the mayor and aldermen for his knowledge of the city. As “The Free People” concluded after his death, his councilorship was "blessed for many".

In the city of Groningen, the Eltjo Ruggestraat is named after him. The road is the connection between his beloved (and 'built') Oosterpark and the Berlage Bridge. At the end of the twenties, he had close contact with Berlage, together with city architect Schut, about numerous rolled-out urban expansions and new traffic routes.

Facts & Figures.

• Artist(s)
  Jan Altink

• Year of creation
  1936

• Dimensions (in cm)
  85x74

• Collection
  Town Hall Collection

• Technic
  Oil paint on canvas

• Floor
  Ground floor