Minerva was one of the famous Belgian car builders from the end of the 19th century till the thirties when the economic crises forced them to stop the production. They had movie stars and kings under their clients, and today it is still a fierce in request by financially strong collectors. The Belgian writer Cyriel Buysse (1859-1932) was, in those days yet, a car-fanatic and fond on travelling in his Minerva. In those days people travelled by train, not so Cyriel Buysse. Like he said himself “What is it like to take a slow train that puts you down in a picturesque place that, after all, obvious looks a dull affair. By car, when the place is bored, you go further to pleasing aereas. You don’t travel in the landscape, the landscape is travelling in yourself. A car is as a free bird. In 1910 he made a 5000 km long journey with his Minerva, like the watercolour shows, to discover the real France, he hated Paris. He went to the picturesque country side, over bad roads, through small villages and over rough mountains, on the way visiting the famous writers Emile Zola and Alphonse Daudet . But he did’nt travel al by himself, he made the road-trip in company of his three ... step-daughters ! No doubt that this combination frequently leaded to situations full of hilarity, like he wrote in his book "De Vroolijke tocht" (The Happy Journey). Image size: 260 x 360 mm