Vincent van Gogh

Jacob-Baart de la Faille, L'Œuvre de Vincent van Gogh. Catalogue raisonné, Paris and Brussels, 1928, vol. IV, no. 1194, illustrated pl. XCII
Walther Vanbeselaere, De Hollandsche periode (1880-1885) in het werk van Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1937, pp. 263, 342 and 411 (as dating from October-December 1884)
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh. His Paintings and Drawings, London, 1970, no. F1194, illustrated p. 432 (as dating from April-May 1885)
Jan Hulsker, The Complete van Gogh-Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Oxford, 1980, no. 588, illustrated p. 134 (as dating from January 1885)
Jacob-Baart de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh. The Complete Works on Paper. Catalogue raisonné, San Francisco, 1992, vol. II, no. 1194, illustrated pl. XCIII (as dating from February-April 1885) 
Jan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh-Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Amsterdam and Philadelphia 1996, no. 588, illustrated p. 134

The present work is one of  a series of studies of peasants and workers executed between the fall of 1884 and 1885, during van Gogh's stay at his parent's home at Nuenen.  Although this particular woman is treated numerous times, her identity remains unknown.  In a letter to his brother, Theo, dated January 1885, van Gogh discusses his obsession with depicting the 'common-man', writing, 'There are various things in the world that are great - the sea with its fishermen - the furrows and peasants - the mines and the coal diggers' (quoted in J. Hulsker, 1996, op. cit., p. 140).

According to Jan Hulsker, van Gogh's intense focus on the studies of these subjects' heads and hands marks a key transition for the artist.  He writes, 'It is clear that Vincent, who had drawn many heads during his time in the Hague but still lacked experience in painting portraits, had now made rapid progress.  In most of the portraits mentioned here the characterization of the heads is very well done, but what is most noteworthy is that he did things entirely his own way. He was not trying to achieve a romantic idealization of the subjects, but to render them forcefully and realistically, a striving that in a few months would culminate in his famous painting of the Potato Eaters' (J. Hulsker, ibid., pp. 142 and 144).

FIG. I, Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, oil on canvas, April 1885, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam