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Lot Essay
The person with the remarkable whiskers is the one Van Gogh represented most in his Hague drawings. He has been identified as then 72-year-old Adrianus Zuyderland, a resident of the Dutch Reformed Almshouse in The Hague, an old people's home. Van Gogh loosely referred to him as 'weesman', 'orphan man', and that is the name under which he entered art history. These partnerless people were obliged to wear black overcoats and top hats and wore a number on their clothing; Mr. Zuyderland was nr. 199. The men were allowed to go out of the Almshouse only three days a week, apart from the Christian holidays. Van Gogh paid him a few quarters for posing; an extra earning that Mr. Zuyderland had to report to the supervisors.
On this large drawing Adrianus Zuyderland is represented at full length, as if engaged in action. The upright posture gives the drawing a rather dignified and monumental effect. This firmness is enhanced by the oval hatching that encircles the figure and follows the perspective. Van Gogh chose to represent the man in lost profile, with his eyes cast down, as if he were absorbed in his action. This viewpoint subtly brings out the men's remarkable features, 'the kind of wrinkled, witty face that one should like to have near a cosy Christmas fire' as the artist put it. The drawing still has faint traces of squaring. These point to the drawing routine Van Gogh was practising. He used a perspective frame with a grid of strings. Then he copied these squares on the paper which gave him a firmer grip of the figure's proportions.
Van Gogh had acquainted Mr. Zuyderland in September 1882, and started to draw him in his prescribed attire. This drawing is different however, since it focuses upon Mr. Zuyderland at work; he is probably wearing his working outfit. Two reasons plea for a date around the second half of October 1882. At first, Van Gogh had Weesman pose out in the open, but circa 10 October, he wrote that 'working out-of doors was over now [...…] for it is getting too chill.' Afterwards, he moved indoor with his figures and started to render them in more pointed clair-obscur. This drawing, with its relatively vigorous cross-hatching seems to have been made in the studio. Besides, raking is a typical October activity. It might well belong to Mr. Zuyderland's autumn chores from which he borrowed his implement.
At first, the present drawing belonged to the famous art advisor and promoter of Van Gogh, H.P. Bremmer. Probably, his descendants sold the drawings to The Prince Bernhard Fund, a Dutch cultural charity in 1965. It was bought with the specific aim to serve as the prize in a raffle at the occasion of the 25-year existence of the Fund. The architect H.J. Nolte, a resident of Curaçao, won the precious prize. The drawing nevertheless remained in the Netherlands. First it was presumed in the press that Mr. Nolte did not want to pay 4,5 import tax on the drawing. He denied and let it be known that he feared that the Antilles climate would damage the drawing. Mr. Nolte gave it on loan to the Rijksprentenkabinet and in 1974 to the newly founded Van Gogh Museum where it has remained since.
We kindly thank Dr. F.Leeman for his help in cataloguing this lot.
On this large drawing Adrianus Zuyderland is represented at full length, as if engaged in action. The upright posture gives the drawing a rather dignified and monumental effect. This firmness is enhanced by the oval hatching that encircles the figure and follows the perspective. Van Gogh chose to represent the man in lost profile, with his eyes cast down, as if he were absorbed in his action. This viewpoint subtly brings out the men's remarkable features, 'the kind of wrinkled, witty face that one should like to have near a cosy Christmas fire' as the artist put it. The drawing still has faint traces of squaring. These point to the drawing routine Van Gogh was practising. He used a perspective frame with a grid of strings. Then he copied these squares on the paper which gave him a firmer grip of the figure's proportions.
Van Gogh had acquainted Mr. Zuyderland in September 1882, and started to draw him in his prescribed attire. This drawing is different however, since it focuses upon Mr. Zuyderland at work; he is probably wearing his working outfit. Two reasons plea for a date around the second half of October 1882. At first, Van Gogh had Weesman pose out in the open, but circa 10 October, he wrote that 'working out-of doors was over now [...…] for it is getting too chill.' Afterwards, he moved indoor with his figures and started to render them in more pointed clair-obscur. This drawing, with its relatively vigorous cross-hatching seems to have been made in the studio. Besides, raking is a typical October activity. It might well belong to Mr. Zuyderland's autumn chores from which he borrowed his implement.
At first, the present drawing belonged to the famous art advisor and promoter of Van Gogh, H.P. Bremmer. Probably, his descendants sold the drawings to The Prince Bernhard Fund, a Dutch cultural charity in 1965. It was bought with the specific aim to serve as the prize in a raffle at the occasion of the 25-year existence of the Fund. The architect H.J. Nolte, a resident of Curaçao, won the precious prize. The drawing nevertheless remained in the Netherlands. First it was presumed in the press that Mr. Nolte did not want to pay 4,5 import tax on the drawing. He denied and let it be known that he feared that the Antilles climate would damage the drawing. Mr. Nolte gave it on loan to the Rijksprentenkabinet and in 1974 to the newly founded Van Gogh Museum where it has remained since.
We kindly thank Dr. F.Leeman for his help in cataloguing this lot.