Neel Doff

Cornelia Hubertina "Neel" Doff (27 January 1858 – 14 July 1942) was a writer of Dutch descent living and working in Belgium and mainly writing in French.

Determined to fight her way from underneath the rag and tether class she started modeling for a large number of renowned Belgian painters (James Ensor, Félicien Rops) and to a lesser extent sculptors (Charles Samuel, Paul de Vigne).

In picture like stories she tells the tale of a young girl, Keetje Oldema exposed to scorn and humiliation because of her hopeless misery, eventually forced into prostitution by her mother to feed her little brothers and sisters.

Tallying her work and enjoying her life as 'Grande Dame' within a selected social circle, she published many short stories in various magazines and periodicals.

In December 1929 the following quote by Thibaud-Gersen appeared in Le Courier Littéraire: "When will they award the Nobel Prize to the humble and genial Neel Doff"?

On 14 July 1942, Neel Doff, embittered by the horrors of the war and suffering from kidney failure, died in her house, 16 rue de Naples, Ixelles, Belgium.

In order to secure her estate she only left the author rights of her work to her dear friend Mrs. Helen Temersen, who being Jewish saw her welfare and worldly belongings in peril.