Vincent van Gogh:
Head of an Old Peasant Woman with White Cap
|
Artist |
Vincent van Gogh
(1853–1890)
|
|
Alternative names |
Vincent Willem van Gogh |
Description |
Dutch painter, drawer and printmaker |
Date of birth/death |
30 March 1853
|
29 July 1890
|
Location of birth/death |
Zundert |
Auvers-sur-Oise |
Work period |
between circa 1880 and circa July 1890 date QS:P,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1880-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1890-07-00T00:00:00Z/10,P1480,Q5727902 |
Work location |
Netherlands (
Etten,
The Hague,
Nuenen, …, before 1886 date QS:P,+1886-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1326,+1886-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 ),
Paris (1886–1887),
Arles (1888–1889),
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (1889–1890),
Auvers-sur-Oise (1890) |
Authority file |
|
artist QS:P170,Q5582 |
|
Title |
Head of a peasant with white cap label QS:Lfr,"Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche"
label QS:Len,"Head of a peasant with white cap" |
Object type |
painting
|
Genre |
portrait
|
Date |
December 1884 date QS:P571,+1884-12-00T00:00:00Z/10 |
Medium |
oil on
canvas mounted on
panel |
Dimensions |
height: 33.3 cm (13.1 in); width: 25.7 cm (10.1 in) dimensions QS:P2048,33.3U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,25.7U174728 |
Place of creation |
Nuenen
|
Object history |
- Col. C. Mouwen Jr., Breda, The Netherlands
- Galerie d’Art Oldenzeel, Rotterdam
- H. van Ogtrop-van Kempen, Aalst, The Netherlands (acquired by 1929)
- Mrs. H. van Ogtrop-van Kempen, Aalst, The Netherlands (by descent from the above)
- E.J. van Wisselingh, Amsterdam
- Private Collection, Spain (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 30, 1981, lot 27a)
- Piccadilly Gallery, London (acquired at the above sale)
- Landau Fine Art, Montreal
- Acquired from the above in 1998
- Sotheby's, New York, 7 May 2014, lot 45: $1,205,000
- Private Collection
- M.S. Rau, New Orleans
|
Exhibition history |
- Rotterdam, Galerie d’Art, Oldenzeel, Vincent van Gogh, 1903
|
Notes |
Catalogues raisonnés:
In the winter of 1884, Vincent embarked on a series of portrait studies he called 'heads of the people' after a similarly titled series by
Hubert von Herkomer published in
The Graphic, a graphic artist he especially admired. In the end he produced some 50 of these studies, declaring "one must paint the peasants as if one were one of them, as feeling, thinking as they do themselves" (
Naifeh and Smith, pp. 412-3,
letter 484). These were the forerunner of his celebrated
The Potato Eaters executed a few months later (Hulsker p. 136).
The family portrayed in the The Potato Eaters was the De Groot family. Their daughter Gordina was a frequent model, sitting at least 20 times for portraits such as
F140 in the
National Gallery of Scotland. In The Potato Eaters she is seated on the left hand side. The sitter in the present portrait F146 is not known. Hulsker describes her as having a long, somewhat curved nose, and gives her the letter designation 'J' in his catalogue of Vincent's models at this period. She appears again in F75, F1193a, JH646, F1149, and F74 (Hulsker p. 140). |
References |
|
Source/Photographer |
Sotheby's, New York, 7 May 2014, lot 45 |