Vincent Van Gogh

M. de Zwart, Voorburg

H. P. Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken, Amsterdam (sold: Fred. Muller et Cie. Amsterdam, November 25-26, 1913, lot 125)

D. Mohr Friele, The Hague (sold: Fred. Muller et Cie, Amsterdam, April 9-10, 1918, lot 367)

Sale: Fred. Muller et Cie, Amsterdam, December 3, 1918, lot 127

Acquired at the above sale by the grandfather of the present owner

Vanbeselaere, W. de Hollandsche periode (1880-1885) in het werk van Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, Antwerp, 1937, pp. 92, 185 and 410

Jacob-Baart de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh, The Complete Works on Paper, Catalogue Raisonné, vol. I, San Francisco, 1992, no. 1083, catalogued p. 58; vol. II, illustrated pl. CLXIII

Jan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh, Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Amsterdam, 1996, no. 313, illustrated p. 77

In the early 1880s, van Gogh produced dozens of drawings of the local townspeople, often concentrating on particular types. In the winter of 1883, van Gogh drew a series of heads of fisherman, inspired partly by a series of wood engravings entitled Heads of the People, published in the English journal The Graphic. In addition, he depicted the full costume of the fisherman, with the fisherman's wicker basket featured only in the present work. Sjraar van Heugten writes that van Gogh acquired one of the distinctive hats of the local fisherman, known as a ``sou'wester,'' which he then featured in many of these drawings: ``Van Gogh was understandably enthusiastic when he added a sou'wester to his collection of attributes, because that distinctive and easily recognisable headgear was almost all he needed to transform his models into fishermen. The various parts of the sou'wester, such as the extended brim at the back for keeping the neck dry and the two ear-flaps which could be fastended with a cord passing under the chin, are illustrated in a 19th-century posed photograph in the series Costumes des Pays-Bas.'' (Sjraar van Heugten, Vincent van Gogh Drawings, The Early Years 1800-1883, vol. 1, London, 1996, p. 201)

Traditional Scheveningen costume