Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

The man represented is Van Gogh’s favourite model, the widower Adrianus Jacobus Zuyderland (1810-1897). He alone appears in about 35 drawings of which the majority date to September and October 1882 when Van Gogh was living in The Hague. The model could be positively identified on the basis of an inventory of the “Nederlands Hervormd Oude-mannen-en-vrouwenhuis” in The Hague where all alsmhousemen and women wore numbers on their clothing.  Adrianus Zuyderland was one of its residents, and can be recognized by his impressive whiskers. Men from this almshouse were usually dressed in a long black coat.

At this time of his career, drawing was Van Gogh’s main means of expression. “Drawing is the principal thing, whatever they may say, and it is the most difficult too.” Letter 205 [176] [18 February 1882]. It was particularly drawing after the model that he was focusing on.
Van Gogh tried to arrange to have a model almost daily. The model would receive a few quarters for posing a morning or an afternoon. During September and October 1882 Van Gogh was frantically making figure studies representing children, women carrying bags, people from Scheveningen and almshouse men and women.

The production of these figure studies enabled him to make multiple-figure compositions more easily. Because they were studies that could, at a later stage, be integrated in other compositions, Van Gogh left out details and settings.

The figure drawings of September and October 1882 are made in carpenter’s pencil, his favourite drawing medium during Van Gogh’s years in The Hague. In order to prevent the paper from getting damaged by the rather vigorous handling of the carpenter’s pencil, the artist would use a sturdy wove or watercolour paper.

This sheet of wove paper has been squared-up. The purpose of the pencil grid underlying the whole structure of the drawing is not to enlarge or reduce the image onto another sheet. The lines duplicate the pattern of the perspective frame through which the artist viewed the subject. It facilitated the correct rendering of proportions in figures.

The present lot has an impressive provenance. It belonged to H.P Bremmer, the well-known art advisor. His descendants probably sold it to the Prins Bernhard Fonds, a cultural charity in The Netherlands. On the occasion of its 25-year anniversary the drawing served as a prize in a raffle, and it was Mr Nolte who was the lucky winner. Although Mr Nolte was a resident of the Dutch Antilles, the drawing was safely kept in the Rijksprentenkabinet of the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam, and subsequently at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

The majority of the drawings representing Adrianus Zuyderland are in museums. For a few comparable drawings see JH 212, JH 241, JH 243, JH 263 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, or  JH 265, JH 278  at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.

We kindly thank Dr. E.N.Heenk for her help in cataloguing this lot.