Mk^H^

JOHANNES VAN DER WOLK -<.

The Seven
Sketchbooks of Vincent i^an Gogh
A FACSIMILE EDITION

m
'' "' ~ 0êi
'ffibtii
 Until the publication of this book, the sketchbooks of
Vincent van Gogh were available to only the few scholars
who traveled to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh in

Amsterdam, where the sketchbooks have been preserved,

on permanent loan from the Vincent van Gogh Foundation.
Since Van Gogh's death, a limited number of these drawings
from the sketchbooks have been reproduced in various
publications on the artist. Now, however, the seven sketch-
with approximately

m
books are published in their entirety,
drawings from the sketchbooks published for the first

P<^r diis special publication, the pages from the sketch-

books have been reproduced in their original size. Further-

more, the author, Johannes van der Wolk, has been able to
reconstruct through careful research the sketchbooks that
have not remained Van der Wolk, formerly director
intact.

of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, is now Van Gogh

curator at the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller in Otterlo, The

Netherlands.
Tn his text. Van der Wolk guides the reader through his
t..rrh lu. ••he original form and subsequent reconstruction
kt
of the sketch^ '•oks. The results are exhaustive, but not
final — the reader is invited to make his own discoveries as

well.

The sketchbook drawings are also discussed in relation to

Van Gogh's major works and are reproduced in the text

section next to the paintings for which they were the gene-

sis. For anyone interested in Van Gogh and his work, this

book offers new insight into his working processes as well

as an extraordinary opportunity to see many works by the
hand of Van Gogh rarely seen before.

423 illustrations, including 210 facsimile reproductions

j^-^- m'M
BOSTOIM
PUBLIC
LIBRARY
The Seven Sketchbooks of Vincent van Gogh
I Left to right: Sketchbooks i, 2, 6, and 7
 JOHANNES VAN DER WOLK

The Seven
Sketchbooks of Vincent van Gogh
A FACSIMILE EDITION

TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH BY CLAUDIA SWAN

Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wolk, Johannes van der.

The seven sketchbooks of Vincent van Gogh.

1. Translation of: De Schetsboeken van Vincent van Gogh.

Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890 — Criticism and inter-
pretation. 2. Gogh, Vincent van, 185 v 1890 - Notebooks,

sketchbooks, etc. 3. Artists' preparatory studies —

Netherlands. I. Title.

NCZ63.G56W65 1 3 1987 741.949Z 87-1351

ISBN 0-8 109- 17^1-9

Photographs of works from the collection of the

Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh have been made available
by the Foundation Vincent van Gogh. Illustrations copyright
© 1986 Foundation Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam

Originally published in The Netherlands by

Meulenhoff/Landshoff as De Schetsboeken van
Vincent van doi^h.

Text copyright ©
1986 Johannes van der Wolk
English translation copyright© 1987 Harry N. Abrams,
inc., and Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Published in 1 987 by Harry N. Abrams, incorporated. New

York. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this
book may be reproduced without the written permission of
the publisher.

Times Mirror Books

Printed and bound in The Netherlands

 1 1

Contents

Notes to this Edition 6

CHAPTER 3

Sketchbooks i—y: Reconstruction

Introduction and Full-Size Illustration
In the Act 7 Sketchbook r: Nuenen 29
Format 7 Sketchbook 2: Nuenen, Antwerp,
Public at Last 9 and Paris 83
Acknowledgments 9 Sketchbook 3: Antwerp 128
Sketchbook 4: Paris 136
CHAPTER I
Sketchbook 5: Paris 142
Van Gogh as Draftsman Sketchbook 6: (Antwerp and) Paris 148
The Phenomenon of the Sketch 1 Sketchbook 7: Auvers-sur-Oise 212
Related Variations in the Work
of Van Gogh 1 CHAPTER 4
Notebooks 13 A Panorama of Questions
Juvenilia: Sketchbooks i, 11 and in 14 Something Everyone 265
for
Japanese Albums 15 Along the "Road" of Technical Capability
Picture Collection 15 265
So-called Letter Sketches 17 Following the Path of the Human Face 273
Handmade Sketchbooks 18 Along the Path of Labor 282
Menu Cards 21 Literally Down the Road 289
Along the Sweet Path of Memories 302
CHAPTER Z

Criteria for a Reconstruction

Not a Trace. Or Is There? 22
. .
Conclusion 312
The Role of Signatures 22
Pagination 23 Literature Cited 314
Loose/Loosely Fixed/Fixed 24
Eight Criteria 25 Index 316
Two Conditions 27

^m
Notes to this Edition

VAN GOGH IN AMSTERDAM LETTER, VB and CL

Except where otherwise noted, all works The word "letter" followed by a number refers to

discussed and reproduced here are authentic a letter by Vincent van Gogh published in one of
works by Vincent van Gogh and are to be found the editions of Verzamelde Brieven (vb) or
in theRijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh in Complete Letters (cl).
Amsterdam as permanent loans from the
Foundation Vincent van Gogh. LITERATURE CITED
This section gives the full bibliographical
SB i-7|a works cited in the text by
references for
In order to identify the newly published author's name and year of publication.
sketchbook drawings, the seven sketchbooks (sb)
have been numbered from i to 7. The letter A ILLUSTRATIONS
here stands for the page number which has now The numbers in bold face refer to the illustrations.
been allocated.
CHRONOLOGY
f/sd and jh In the text, a particular period in the life of

For identification of previously published
paintings and drawings by Van Gogh, reference is
made to the F and SD numbers in J. B. de la Faille,
The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings
and Drawings, Amsterdam (revised, augmented,
and annotated edition) 1970. The jH numbers
refer to Jan Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh:
Vincent van Gogh is sometimes indicated by the
name of the city where he resided at that time:
The Hague, December 1881— September 1883
Drenthe, September-November 1883
Nuenen, December 1883— November 1885
Antwerp, November 1885— February 1886
Paris, March 1886-February 1888

Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Oxford— New 1888-May 1889

Aries, February
York 1980 (based on the Dutch edition of Van Saint-Remy, May 1889-May 1890
Gogh en zijn weg: Al zijn tekeningen en Auvers-sur-Oise, May-July 1890
hun samenhang en ontwikkeling,
schilderijen in
Amsterdam 1977). These numbers are used only
when the particular work docs not have an f or
SD number. An exception has been made in
Chapter 3 and in the Index, where for previously
published sketchbook drawings, both the f/sd
and the jh numbers are indicated.
Introduction

IN THE ACT within the oeuvre of Van Gogh. The spectrum of

"My sketchbook shows that I try to catch' things classifications for such types is broad, ranging
'in Gogh to his
the act,'" wrote Vincent van from what are rather called scrapbooks or albums
brother Theo in 1882. (letter 190). And to give to sketch pads of medium and large format, letter
Theo - in Paris — an idea of what he - in The sketches and sketches on loose sheets of paper,
Hague - had to put up with, Van Gogh sent a and pocket-size sketchbooks.
Workers on the Geest
sketch with his letter, Street Of — the pocket-size sketchbooks -
the latter sort
(jH 132, 2), "that was done ... in a street where those which Van Gogh bought ready-made rather
Iwas standing in the mud, amid all the noise and than cutting or folding them himself are here of
confusion." central importance. Most of these are located in
Just as Van Gogh sought to catch things "in the theRijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh in
act," so can we, a hundred years later and over Amsterdam, where they are on permanent loan
his shoulder, attempt to "catch" him. In his from the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. Only a
sketchbooks we see Van Gogh at work; we see few loose sheets are located elsewhere; in the

him noting down what occupied him from day to course of time they have ended up in other
day. Of course he was free to open his sketchbook collections — in a private collection in The v^^::
to any page and to draw or write just as it came Netherlands and in the Cabinet des Dessins of the
to him; he was in no way compelled to take top Musée National du Louvre in Paris.
or bottom, or the orientation of his drawings, into In Chapter 2 (Criteria for a Reconstruction) I 2 Street Workers on the
account. His sketchbooks were intended for his will describe the method I developed while Geest (jH 132)
eyes only, and he did not have to take an audience working on the reconstruction of these
into consideration. For the reader and viewer sketchbooks. Although almost all of what has
today, it is precisely this aspect that provides an been preserved of the sketchbooks is now located
element of surprise, making the sketchbooks in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, this does
particularly intriguing and charming. It is with not mean that the sketchbook pages still exist
this in mind that the orientations of the neatly in their bindings. A large number of these
illustrations in Chapter 3 are arranged to reflect sheets have in fact come loose. Until recently some
those of the originals in the sketchbooks. of these loose sheets were gathered arbitrarily
between those covers which have been preserved.
FORMAT Others were placed in a passe-partout, like the
In Chapter i (Van Gogh as Draftsman) I will map self-standing drawings, because their provenance
out the sketchbook as a phenomenon, first — was no longer recognized.
briefly - in general and, subsequently, with The need to reconstruct the sketchbooks in their
particular attention to Van Gogh. In common original format initially arose from a curiosity
parlance all manner of sketches and sketchbooks about the original number of sheets. In order to
are grouped under this category. Most of these ascertain this, it was first necessary to determine
types, vastly different from each other, occur the structure of the books. This in turn required a
3 Sketchbooks i and z (above)
and sketchbooks 6 and 7 (below)

scrupulous analysis of the extant sheets in search result of the reconstruction of each sketchbook is

of useful traces. During that process it also given in a detailed table of contents. Subsequently
became evident how exciting it was to discover all of the pages containing sketches and, where
that certain — at present, loose — sheets had applicable, adjacent empty pages are reproduced
originally belonged together in one and the same one to one, in their full dimensions.
sketchbook. The order in which they were In Chapter 4 (A Panorama of Questions) various
sketched could thereby be established to a certain relationships between the sketchbook drawings
extent; this is not only illustrative of Van Gogh's and the more widely known drawings and
work process, but also helps us to determine the paintings of Van Gogh are discussed. 1 hope that
meaning and dates of the individual drawings. this will stimulate the reader to leaf through the
My hope is that the reader will be so taken by sketchbooks as they appear in Chapter t, time and
the puzzle of this reconstruction that he himself again, and thus to formulate his own additional
will also sit folding signatures (the sections into questions and to make his own discoveries.
which a book is divided in its binding). 1 hope
that he will follow me — with his own folded PUBLIC AT LAST
papers in hand — in my attempt in Chapter 3 A iiumber of the drawings - the number varies
(Sketchbooks 1—7, Reconstruction and Full-Size greatly from one sketchbook to the next - have
Illustration) to reconstruct the books as never before been described and published. And
completely as possible and also, insofar as is insofar as this has been done, it was by no means
possible, to return the loose sheets to their always clear that these were drawings from a
original locations. The four sketchbooks of which sketchbook. In this book they are made accessible
the covers have been preserved (sB i, 2, 6, and 7, in their original context for the first time. In the
I and 3) proved to be fairly amenable to chapter called Supplementary Drawings in the

reconstruction. With the three other sketchbooks 1970 edition of the i)E i.A FAILLE catalogue
(sB 3, 4, and 5), of which only a few folios have raisonné, the sketchbooks published here as SB i,
been preserved, this is, alas, not the case. The 2, 6, and 7 were said not to have been included

8
 4 Dr. Vincent Willem van Gogh
( 890— 978), nephew
1 1 of Vincent
van Gogh

because the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh Haarlem; the so helpful owner of SB i I25/Z6;
hoped to reproduce the sketchbooks in their and - last but not least — Thijs Quispel, who
entirety in a special pubhcation. Naturally, the photographed the Amsterdam sketchbooks with
announcement of the proposed publication of the the utmost care. I word of
address a separate
sketchbooks was hailed with much enthusiasm by gratitude to Ronald Pickvance, whose
Van Gogh scholars, among others, pickvanck publications and exhibitions devoted to Van Gogh
1973. A number of the drawings from SB i were have served as an inspiring example throughout
subsequendy published by hulsker 1980. the preparation of this book.
It is fortunate, then, that the arrangements Since the completion of this manuscript, an
concerning the Dutch edition of this book — extensive group of people have attended to the
initiated by the late engineer Dr. Vincent Willem actual production of the book. This edition is

van Gogh (4), the founder and first president of based on the Dutch original edition, De
the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, and Mr. W. schetsboeken van Vincent van Gogh, published in

van Hoorn, Director of Meulenhoff International 1986 by Meulenhoff/Landshoff. My special

late in 1977 - were finalized in 1985. The thanks extend to Renée van de Griend, Director
sketchbooks, formerly only accessible to an of Meulenhoff International; the designer Zeno;
extremely select group of insiders, are now, with and Claudia Swan, who translated the book and,
the publication of this book, finally open to the while doing so, proved herself to be a devoted
public. expert in the field of folding signatures.
Finally, I extend a special personal word of
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS thanks to Elisabeth and our sons Marnix,
I wish to extend my thanks to the board of the Frederik, and Guido, who have accommodated
Vincent van Gogh Foundation and to the director and accompanied the progress of this book at

of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, who home.

granted me a privilege by allowing me to prepare
this publication. 1 have done so with much "IGITUR," SUMMER 1986
pleasure, in enjoyable cooperation with and
thanks to the help of the following people and
organizations: F. M. van Gogh, on behalf of the
Vincent van Gogh Foundation; R. de Leeuw,
Director, H. van Crimpen, Curator, Fieke Pabst,
Documentalist, and F. C. Stive, technical assistant,
of theRijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh in
Amsterdam; R. W. D. Oxenaar, Director, R. M. J.
M. Hoefsloot, restorer, and Elize Heuker of
Hoek, photographer, of the Rijksmuseum Kröller-
Müller in Otterlo; Charlotte E. M. Wolff, restorer
at the Centraal Laboratorium voor Onderzoek
van Voorwerpen van Kunst en Wetenschap in

Amsterdam; Martha Op de Coul, Van Gogh

specialist at the Rijksbureau van Kunsthistorische
Documentatie The Hague; the staff of the
in

Cabinet des Dessins of the Musée National du

Louvre, Paris; the staff of the Teylers Museum,
 ""'•i
'
*'v".,'' -'kj'iK»

f^;j^\

•...i^x»..'
j^^r-^^i^^^-

5 Landscape with Strollers,

attributed to Van Gogh (f 1093,
present location unknown)

10
CHAPTER I

Van Gogh as Draftsman

THE PHENOMENON OF THE SKETCH their combination of notes, calculations, and

In the general introduction to his survey of the drawings alternating in lively succession. The first

sketchbooks of major artists, marks 1972 sketchbook consists primarily of drawings, with a
concedes that it is not always an easy task to few notes. The seventh sketchbook and what -*:; fV
^
make a clear distinction between a "sketchbook" remains of the third and fourth consist exclusively
and a "notebook." of drawings.
The essential difference lies in the nature of what There is substantial reason to suppose that Van
is drawn or, respectively, written. It is appropriate Gogh made use of more of such pocket-size
to classify books consisting primarily of drawings sketchbooks. Insofar as it is currently possible to
as sketchbooks, while those largely concerned determine, only fragments of these remain,
with or comprised of texts and/or calculations however; would be somewhat inappropriate to
it

would sooner be called notebooks. There are, of include them in the series of seven sketchbooks
course, numerous examples of books that contain before us now. This is, for example, the case with
drawings as well as notes. the self-standing drawing f 1093 (s)^ ^s with the
Many sketchbooks are dismantled after the duet (see p. 24) composed of F 1361 (6) and
death of the artist so that the drawings can be F 1382 (recto, 7, and verso, 8).

dispersed as individual folios. The reverse also Unfortunately the present location of drawing
occurs; individual sketches of various origins are F 1093 is unknown; it last appeared and was sold
often assembled in albums. All too often this at auction in Berne in 1966. But it is clear even
process involves the reduction of folios to from the photograph used for the illustration that 6 Pending Skeleton and
accommodate the dimensions of the album. Thus the sheet originally belonged to a sketchbook: Black Cat
we find drawings removed from their original along the lefthand side, five binding holes are (F 1361)

context as well as assembled in the new context of distinguishable. The sheet, as listed in the auction
an album. In addition to filling sketchbooks, it is catalogue, measures 5'/8X8V4" (130X210 mm);
not unusual for an artist to draw, for example, on it is about as large as the three surviving pages of
loose sheets of paper, to illuminate written the fifth sketchbook (SB 5). The pattern of the
correspondence with sketches, or to make binding perforations does not, however,
sketches in the margins of books while reading. In correspond to that of SB 5, to which, we must
such cases marks 1972 speaks of "sketchbook conclude, it never belonged. To the best of my
material." knowledge, there exists no other sketchbook page
in thehand of Van Gogh which is identifiable as
RELATED VARIATIONS IN THE WORK OF originating from the same sketchbook as F 1093.
VAN GOGH Of the above-mentioned duet, only one side of
Each of the aforementioned variants occurs in F 1361 contains a drawing, while 1382 features f
some form in the work of Van Gogh. The second, a drawing on one side and text on the other. Here
fifth, and sixth sketchbooks - as designated and we encounter some technical complications. Both
reproduced in this volume - are exemplary in F 1 36 1 and the drawing of f 1382 are affixed to

II
 7 Landscape with Strollers
(f 1382 recto)

.•4..

MM.Vk^<*' ' V=^.Jk ^

.-'" »fcj» <^'

/
(i- > '•'^

8 Notes (f 138Z verso) 9 The Potato Eaters (f 1

present location unknown)

cardboard. The text of F 1382 is on the reverse of van Gogh shared apartment in the Rue
a small

the cardboard. While it is tempting to assume that Laval for some time;was in this street that the
it

this support is original, the traces of a crease and café/cabaret Le Chat Noir was located. Is it then
of a (binding?) perforation punctuate the drawing too hazardous to assume that the drawing of f
side of F 1382. This perforation does not occur in 1 36 1, with a cat in the upper right, is in some way
the backing. The paper used for the drawings, as associated with Le Chat Noir? After all, numerous
well as their measurements — 4V8 x 2 V4/2 Vi^" artists produced drawings for the magazine Le
(105 X 57/59 mm) and 4'kx 2 Vs" (105 x 60 mm), Chat Noir, in which the black cat was often,
respectively — correspond in such a way that it though not always, the common element
seems more than likely that the drawings (OBERTHUR 1984). As early as his stay in Brabant
constitute the two halves of a pair. The question Van Gogh had asked Theo, then living in the Rue
of whether they were once the two faces of the Laval, whether Le Chat Noir might not be
jacket of a small book, perhaps a coupon book, interested in a drawing of his Potato Eaters (9).

or, for example, sections of a carton for a small

box, remains open.
F 1361 is customarily dated to Van Gogh's time
in Antwerp. In the light of its relationship, as
described here, to f 1382, and of the fact that the
text of F 1382 unmistakably concerns Paris (the
Jardin des Tuilerics), wonder whether f 1361
I

should instead be attributed to Van Gogh's Paris

period, tralbaut 1948 left this possibility open
on the grounds of stylistic considerations, but
concluded nevertheless that it should be dated to
the Antwerp period. In Paris, Vincent and Theo

iz
 lo Thijs Maris. Portrait studies
(Collection Teylers Museum,
Haarlem)

NOTEBOOKS
Two books by Van Gogh, filled (almost)
exclusively with text have also been preserved:
one is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum
Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, and the second in

Museum, Haarlem (heijbroek 1975;

the Teylers
POLLOCK 1980, no. i). The Amsterdam book
contains texts of and after J. Autran, Sainte
Beuve, Michelet, Uhland, and Rückert. The book
measures 6'/8 x
(156 x 96
33/4"mm); there are no
pages missing. The Haarlem book on the other
hand is no longer complete: pages 81—92 (my
numbering) of the final signature are missing. The
measurements of this book are: height, ó^/s"
(162 mm) at the binding and 6V2." (165 mm) at
the outside edge; width, 4V16" (106 mm) at top
and bottom. In this book Van Gogh transcribed
texts by Uhland, Heine, Goethe, and Andersen.
The last three pages (93—95) of the book contain
drawings (10— 11).
The Haarlem book is accompanied by a note
from W. van Meurs stating that "the book — in
the handwriting of Vincent van Gogh — was
presented to Thijs Maris by Van Gogh in Paris as
a token of his affection for Maris. He also
identified the two sketches by Th. Maris and the
one on the other page as a portrait-sketch by Van
Gogh." In his note Van Meurs does not mention L

the drawing on page 95, the verso of which — just

like "page i" — is affixed to the jacket. On the uhland are capable of inspiring, asking, finally, II Vincent van Gogh
basis of the note from Van Meurs, it is assumed "Don't you think it would be best to put away (left) and Thijs Maris
(right). Portrait studies
that thedrawing on page 94 is by Van Gogh those little books I What Theo
copied for you.'"
(Collection Teylers
while those drawings on pages 93 and 95 were did not "put away" is a single loose sheet — or Museum, Haarlem)
drawn by Thijs Maris. It remains impossible, what survives as a single loose sheet — containing
however, to resolve whether the missing pages Jules Breton's poem Les Ruines (12). The page
also contained drawings and, if so, whether they measures 3'Vié x 53/8" (100 x 136 mm). It is clear,

were drawings by Maris or by Van Gogh. looking at the lefthand side, that the page was
There are indications in, among other things, torn from a book. It was subsequently folded in

Vincent's letters to Theo that at one time other two along its length. Did Vincent perhaps enclose
such books existed: "I copied in your little book the sheet in a letter, in which case it would have
Meeresstille by Heine, didn't I? Some time ago I had to have been folded to fit into an envelope?
saw a picture by Thijs Maris that reminded me of Van Gogh included quotations in his letters fairly
it" (letter 24); and, in letter 49, he warns Theo of regularly — for example, in letter 451, which he
the dangerous illusions the poems of Heine and wrote to Theo from Antwerp. The quotation

13
 ^ -t^v»x^>i>a èlt-Yaite ,
troui^a 'tf'di-.^ ^J^nt^ % triuts .

v*<^ '
/

12 Jules Breton's poem Les Ruines

f

JÖ j' uyi ••> t>M^ >*.

^^ »-l^ .^

KI
14 Page from juv sb hi

? V r^^
--
Il Li K f «Vfi-OA »».-«..<-< »A ' ;;^/ '

13 Passage from letter 451

included in this letter (13) reappears in the second constructed the book. He used handmade paper
sketchbook (SB 2] 15, 100). bearing the watermark "Concordia Res Parvae
Crescunt."
JUVENILIA: SKETCHBOOKS I, II, AND III The books from 1873-74 described by
three

The drawing from the Haarlem book reproduced SZYMANSKA 1967 appear in the df. la faille
above (11) is stylistically reminiscent of the head 1970 catalogue raisonne as "sketchbooks i, ii,
of a woman (14) - a composition similarly placed and III." Like the remaining so-called "juvenilia"
against a dark background - in a book that Van - the early works - they are numbered with
Gogh filled with drawings with and for Betsy Roman numerals, permitting me to assign the
Tersteeg, the daughter of Vincent's former Arabic numbers 1-7 to the sketchbooks
employer at the art firm Goupil & Co., The reconstructed in this book. The risk of confusing

Hague, in July 1874. It was originally page 9 (my SB 1-3 with JUV SB i-iii does not seem to me to

numbering) of the sketchbook described by be too great, particularly since the books must be
SZYMANSKA 1967 as "Drittes Heft." Presumably, dated to totally different periods.

the book originally consisted of twenty-four

9-19 and 13-24
pages, of which only pages
remain. The measurements are 6V16 x 3' Vif,"
(153 X 99 mm). believe that Van Gogh himself
1

14
 15 Sketch in letter 492

JAPANESE ALBUMS
In the preceding section we saw that Van Gogh
composed three books for a young friend in
1873—74. About fifteen years later, in May 1888,
he proposed to do something along the same lines
for his artist friends of the time, PaulGauguin and
Emile Bernard, in 492 Theo
letter he wroteto
that he wanted very much to make albums for
Gauguin and Bernard of six, ten, or twelve
drawings. For the format of the albums he looked
to the type originally used for Japanese drawings.
And Theo what he meant by this, he
to clarify for
sketched such an album (15), proposing to give it
an orange or lemon-yellow cover. Here then we
are dealing with an album that Van Gogh
intended to fill with his own work. As far as we
know, neither Theo nor Vincent realized this plan.
Van Gogh did, however, make a series of loose-
leaf drawings for Bernard, for another artist

friend, John Russell, and for his brother Theo;

these consisted of drawings after his own recently
completed paintings — handmade reproductions,
as it were, in pencil and ink. The three series differ
sufficiently to be distinguished from one another,
as ROSKILL 1971 and pickvance 1984, among
others, have shown. It appears that Bernard did in an aside, of the collection of Japanese prints. In
fact make an album of the drawings Van Gogh letter 275 of March 1883 Vincent wrote to Theo:
sent him; m mid-August 1888 he showed it to
Gauguin in Pont-Aven. Since then, however, the I haven't yet written to you that I have almost
drawings have evidently been removed from the the whole Graphic collection now. From the
album; they are now spread far and wide, in both beginning in 1870. Of course, not everything,
American and European collections. there is too much chaff - but the best things
from ic. When one sees, for instance,
PICTURE COLLECTION Herkomer's work, arranged together instead of
Over a long period of time, Van Gogh assembled scattered among many insignificant things, it is

a collection of clippings of magazine illustrations not only more pleasant and easier to look at,
and loose reproductions of works of art. These he but, in addition, one learns to distinguish the
assembled in albums, or attached to loose sheets characteristics of the various masters, and the
of paper. Theo, too, had a scrapbook of great difference between the draftsmen.
reproductions. Thus it is hardly possible to
ascertain which part of the picture collection - as For the influence of similar magazine illustrations
it is now, in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh - on the work of Van Gogh, the reader is referred
originally belonged to Vincent and which to Theo. to PICKVANCE 1974 and to the tokyo 1985
The same is true, though this is mentioned only as catalogue.

^5
 8

1 Sketch on the back of the

mount for magazine illustration
inventory no. 576

19 The back of this drawing was

used as a mount for magazine
illustration inventory no. 204
"^
3=

18 19

V On one of the pages from his collection of

magazine illustrations (Luc=01ivier Merson: Les

% 'f/?)/'///0^//fA/T// Victtmes du Devoir, 16),
small sketches (17) —
Van Gogh drew two
"krabbeltjes" (scribbles), as
<' he himself would have called them. In another

-S^. instance
paper
Van Gogh drew not on
itself,
the
but on the back of the sheet onto
magazine

jWIS'f which he had mounted it (r8). On yet another

X occasion Van Gogh used the reverse of an earlier

drawing (19) — on handmade paper with the
watermark "Michallet" — to mount a magazine
illustration. To attribute these sketches to Van

Gogh on stylistic grounds exclusively would be

somewhat risky. Nevertheless, given their context,
I believe the attribution to be defensible.
Van Gogh's picture collection also contains
sheets on which several illustrations are grouped
If, for example, we compare Percy
together.
i6 A platefrom Van Gogh's ''(
collection of magazine illustrations Macquoid's The Mackerel Fishery — Sketches in a
with two scribbles in the righthand Devonshire Village (pickvance 1974 no. 46, 20)
margin with a page from Van Gogh's letter 3 ^o from
Drenthe (jh 405, 21), we are impelled to ask
17 The two scribbles enlarged
whether Vincent was not implicitly trying to show
Theo how he was developing his skills as a

16
 20 Percy Macquoid, The
Mackerel Fishery —
Sketches in a Devonshire
Village

XI Page with sketches

(JH 405) in letter 330

traveling correspondent, a "special reporter" quite reasonable to assume that these seven illustrations
capable of evoking the atmosphere of diverse are to appear in the relevant volume — Volume 11

regions via expressive images. - only five of its illustrations are identifiable as
such, all of them belonging to SB i. The
SO-CALLED LETTER SKETCHES illustrations in vb. Volume 11, on pages 433, 437,
The letters of Van Gogh may, in a certain sense, 444 (zx), and 459 correspond, in that order, to
be looked at as one large sketch- and notebook — SB i|i24, 35, 30, 31, and 99. Where, then, are
a compilation words and images of those things
in the two that should complete the set of seven? I
that occupied him throughout the years. A suspect that the pair was, on second thought,
comparison of the Dutch (vb) and the English/ moved into Volume iii, to pages 16 and 53.
American (cl) editions of the letters of Van Gogh There we find, in fact, illustrations of SB 1I50 and
reveals that these editions contain, in part, loi. It is strange that no mention of this is made
different illustrations. in the foreword to Volume in.

If we then compare these with the original The rest of the drawings reproduced in VB,
letters, it is immediately evident that neither of Volume 11, can be disqualified, one by one, as
them contains reproductions of all of the letter candidates for the two remaining sketchbook
sketches and, furthermore, that not only letter pages. This is also true of the drawings on pages
sketches are illustrated. Both also contain sketches 463 and 465. These appear in hulsker 1980 as
from the sketchbooks. These are subsequently, numbers jH 589 and jH 628, where their location
and quite mistakenly, more than once referred to is given as unknown. In the meantime, it has been

in the Van Gogh literature as "letter sketches." established that both of these drawings are safe in
In the foreword to vb. Volume 11, the reader is the collection of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van
informed that seven of the illustrations are taken Gogh. J H 589 is too large (5V16X 3V8", 132X79
from a sketchbook. Though it would seem mm) for SB i and, furthermore, is drawn on

17
 i

-IJ— '«'x-
22 Self Portraits (f 1378 recto),
paper from a sketch block

different paper (a fragment of "Concordia Res reader with my findings concerning such sketch
Parvae Crescunt"). As far as its measurements pads, 1 will not do so at this point. For
(3'/i X 2 V16", 88X58 mm) are concerned, the convenience' sake, 1 will concentrate on the
drawing jh 6z8 (298) could well have belonged sketchbooks bought ready-made in the present
to SB I, but seems to have been cut out of a letter, book, and save a study of the larger sketchbooks
a fragment of which is found on the back. and pads for another, later book.
Drawings from other sketchbooks also appear
in VB and CL. In VB, Volume i, these are the HANDMADE SKETCHBOOKS
drawings reproduced on page 103 (SB 6I63); in The seven sketchbooks discussed here are not only
Volume HI, on page 4 (sB 3I5), page 39 (sb related by virtue of their pocket-size format. All of

2I3),and pages 136 and 37 (sb 6|8 1—82). Letter

1 them are books which Van Gogh bought ready-
459 is also written on paper from one of the made. They are professionally bound, and some
sketchbooks (sb 6|6x). have the additional feature of a storage
VB, Volume iii, also contains reproductions of compartment or pencil holder. Aside from these
"a fragment of a sketch sheet" (page 168) and a sketchbooks. Van Gogh also apparently, and
"detailfrom a sketchbook" (page 176). In fact more than once, constructed his own sketchbooks
these two drawings together make up a single by folding and cutting a large sheet of paper into
sheet (f 1378 recto, 22); the sketch pad to which a signature, juv sb hi, made for Betsy Tersteeg,
it originally belongs, however, is of substantially is one example already discussed. Late in 1881,
larger dimensions than those presently under Van Gogh wrote the following to Theo (letter

discussion. Tempting as it is to confront the 164) about making one's own sketchbooks:

18
 23 Head of a Man
(JH 133)

24 The Great Lady

(jH 128)

fig. I Folding diagram for jH 128

and JH 132/133

"However, for studies and scribbles the Ingres Unfortunately, the larger study mentioned by Van
paper is excellent. And it is much cheaper to make Gogh has not been preserved; it is thus not
one's own sketchbooks in different sizes than to possible to make a comparison of the variations
buy them ready-made." on a "somber expression."
The drawing mentioned in the introduction, The most obvious assumption is that both
Street Workers on the Geest (2), also seems to drawings come from one sketchbook. My guess is

have belonged to a handmade sketchbook. This that Van Gogh made the sketchbook from one
sheet measures 7'Vi6X47i6" (198 x 112 mm). double folio bearing the watermarks VDL and
The paper is the same as that of juv sb hi; its "Concordia Res Parvae Crescunt."
watermark is a fragment of "Concordia Res Because a similar sheet of paper is also used for
Parvae Crescunt." The back of this sheet contains drawing f i 168, we know that the original
another drawing. Head of a Man (jh 133, 23). measurements are 135/8X 16V4" (344 x 423 mm).
Shortly before, Van Gogh had sent Theo yet In order to arrive at a page format similar to
another drawing on the same sort of paper JH 128 and JH 132/133 (73/4 X4V8", 196X105
(though this piece bears no watermark) of almost mm), the large sheet must first be folded like a
the same dimensions: 7V4 x 4V4" (197 X 109 mm). harmonica along the shortest side into three equal
This was The Great Lady (jh 128, 24), parts and then folded double along the now-
mentioned in letter 185 to Theo; Van Gogh wrote longest side (see the folding pattern of fig. i).

that the little sketch enclosed was scrawled after a Cutting open all except the final fold completes
larger study that had a more somber expression. the construction of a book section (signature) of

^9
 \

25 Strollers in a Piirk (presumably

in the Jardin du Luxembourg)
(F 1^8^)

fig. z Folding diagram for f 1383

six folios, or twelve pages, each roughly of the

desired measurements. A book binder would
customarily fold a signature along the
subsequently longest sides, but 1 presume that in

this case Van Gogh worked in the manner just

described in order to keep the sheets together in

the booklet.
Another example of a drawing that presumably
once belonged to a handmade sketchbook is
K 1383 (25). The paper Van Gogh used for this
drawing contains a fragment of the watermark

"Pro Patria Eendragt Maakt Magt." The

measurements are 3^/8 x G'U' (98 x 159 mm). This
is one-eighth of the double folio so 1717 (iz'Vift
I • mj.^ 'K/"/ X 5'*/ift", 329 X 395 mm, 26). in addition to the
I

y '" 'S~
V/..., € watermark "Pro Patria Eendragt Maakt Magt,"
this double folio also bears the watermark

"VDL." The folding procedure here consists of

folding the sheet three times and then along the
subsequently longest side (see the folding pattern

26 Sittmg Nude (so 1717) and a

short letter from A. H. Koning

10
of fig. z). Naturally, it would be very satisfying if 27 Strolling People

the remaining seven-eighths of this handmade (p 1377). Drawn on a

menu card from the
sketchbook had been preserved. This is however —
Restaurant du Chalet
to the best of my knowledge - unfortunately not
the case.

MENU CARDS
With regard to the drawing SD 1717 mentioned in

the foregoing section, it is interesting to recall the

text that Vincent's artist friend A. H. Koning
wrote on the half of the page containing no
drawing (the verso is entirely blank): "This
afternoon I removed my paintings. Are you
coming to the chalet tonight as well? 1 write this
aay-f f^r?y^/tC^^c^
actually at the request of the woman who cleans
the room, a cautious little woman indeed. Adieu,
Koning." By "the chalet" Koning meant the
Restaurant du Chalet, 43 Avenue de Clichy, not
far from where the brothers Van Gogh lived in

Paris. Late in 1887 Van Gogh organized an

exhibition of his own work and that of Bernard,
Anquetin, Lautrec, Koning, and perhaps
Guillaumin as well (see welsh 1976 and 1981).
Five menu cards from the Restaurant du Chalet
remain, a sort of memento on which Van Gogh
made some drawings: on the backs of four of
them (f 1376, F 1412, SD 1714, and sd 1720)
and in the margin of one other (f 1377, 27).
Together, these five sketches form a good example
of what MARKS 1972 calls "sketchbook
material."

21
 CHAPTER Z

Criteria for a Reconstruction

28 Of the forty-eight NOT A TRACE ... OR IS THERE.^ us to date these and other drawings and thus to
pages of SB 6, only nine Not one of the seven pocket-size sketchbooks has understand them in their original context.
are still attached inside
remained completely intact. Only four still have
the cover. Six of these are
glued into the covers. In
their original covers. Of the three others, merely a THE ROLE OF SIGNATURES
Chapter 3, we will few pages remain. Even the contents of the four The most important key to a reconstruction lies in
reconstruct the original with covers have — in varying degrees — gone determining the original size of the signatures of
locations of the twenty- adrift because pages were torn or cut out (28). the books. Whether seen from below or above,
eight loose pages that had — sketchbook SB i (29) is a good
And thereafter been lost. Most of the loose sheets the signatures
become separated. Eleven
are in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Vincent example — are usually recognizable as bundles of
pages have disappeared in
the course of time. van Gogh, some inserted casually and in an paper. one opens a book to precisely the middle
If

arbitrary order in the books, others placed in of a signature, one finds the binding stitches or the
passe-partouts and thus treated and inventoried as staples with which the signature is held in place in
self-standing drawings. A small number have the binding. A signature is by definition not a
turned up in other collections. Finally, other pages collection of loose sheets, it is the product of
have disappeared, apparently without a trace. folding one large piece of paper several times
However, as we shall see in the following chapter, over, ending up with folds along one side only.
it is possible to reconstruct the books — those with This side is then the back - or binding - edge of
covers, at least — so completely that the original the signature. The remaining three sides are
locations of the loose, and even the lost, pages can trimmed to the desired size, and the folds which
be determined with a considerable degree of have become superfluous are removed.
accuracy. By folding, for example, a rectangular piece of
Just such a reconstruction is important for at paper four times in two along the longest side
least three reasons. In the first place, it informs us each time, four consecutive signatures of,

of how many and what type of sheets we need to respectively, four, eight, sixteen, and thirty-two
complete the books. 1 remain optimistic. Second, pages are produced. Each time the sheet is folded,
it teaches us something of the order in which Van the page size is halved. The middle of such
Gogh filled his books with notes and drawings, sections lies between pages z and 3, 4 and 5, 8

which in turn teaches us something of the and 9, and 16 and 17, respectively.
dynamics of his work process. Third, it can help Folding the rectangular sheet lengthwise like an

22
29 The eight signatures of SB i

are easily recognizable from the

narrow sides of the book

accordion in thirds rather than half lengthwise in

the first phase and only then — in the second and

subsequent steps — double in the length produces
signatures numbering twelve, twenty-four, and
forty-eight pages. The middle of such signatures
lies between pages 6 and 7, iz and 13, and 24
and Z5, respectively.
I invite the reader to fold a signature from a
rectangular piece of paper, to trim off the
superfluous edges, and to number the pages. This
exercise will surely prove useful during the actual
reconstruction of the sketchbooks. What might
otherwise be thought hocus-pocus on my part
will, I hope, appear to be well worth reading with
a critical and constructive we saw eye. And, as in been numbered before the binder glued the first 30 The four last pages
the previous chapter. Van Gogh himself made and last pages to the covers. I admit that this is
of the eighth signature of
SB I are glued to the
more than one sketchbook in this way: we are in unusual ("what we do not see doesn't count"),
storage compartment and
good company. but in this case seemed preferable to opt for
it
the back cover of the
such pagination rather than a numbering system book.
PAGINATION that does not correspond with the format of the
The page you are now reading is numbered 23. It signatures. I have also assigned numbers to the
is also part of the second signature. The attentive missing pages just as if they were still present.
reader will be able to establish this for himself.
The same is true of the identification of page i of loose/loosely fixed/fixed
the first signature as page i of the book, though There are several ways in which the pages of a
this information is not, for the sake of aesthetics, sketchbook may be attached to each other. To
given on the relevant page. In the sketchbooks to begin with, they may be bound to their "natural
be reconstructed, the first sheet of the signature partner," or counterpart, in the signature. In a
does not correspond to the first page of the book. signature of sixteen pages, the following folios
The first and last pages — in varying quantities (with one page to a side) belong to each other as
from book to book - of the first and last "partners": 1/2 and 15/16, 3/4 and 13/14, 5/6
signatures, respectively, are glued to the covers, and 11/12, and 7/8 and 9/10, as schematically
sometimes also with a fly-leaf or a storage illustrated in fig. 3. Generally speaking, signatures
compartment (30). are not only stitched but also glued into the
In order to make the structure of the signature binding, whereby a little bit of the glue will seep
recognizable via the page numbers, I have chosen through between the last page of one signature
to number the sketchbook pages as if they had and the first page of the next. Should such pages

2-3

^-r^
 1

8 y
11)
7

6 1

5 12

4 13

3 14

2 1 '5

1 1 1

I 1
91 1
^i i^ i fi 1 fi z
1 1
1

1 1
1

1 1 1

1 1
1

1 1
1

1 1
1

1 1
1

1 j_ j 1 1_
1 1

1
1

1 1
1

1 1
1

1 1
1

1 1
1

1 1
I

8 1
9 12 J 6 II 1
10 7
fig. 3. Folding diagram tor a
signature of 16 pages

become detached from the binding of a book, they

are for the most part still identifiable as such by
the remains of glue more or less clearly visible on
one side of the paper. But what also occurs is that
pages fall from their original location as a "duet."
In the case of two consecutive signatures, each
comprised of sixteen pages, folio 15/16, for

example, will be coupled with folio 17/18.

It is also possible for pages to lose their
counterparts in the signature and nevertheless
remain in place. Such "loosely fixed" pages are
sometimes held in place by virtue of a small piece
of the paper still being attached by binding thread
or a staple. Loose pages, it will be evident, arc
pages that have come to lead an independent
existence. In the case of the seven sketchbooks at
hand, these pages have either been loosely inserted
in the book or placed in passe-partouts, or have
ended up in other collections.

M
 31 The pages of sb 7 are not cut
squarely

EIGHT CRITERIA
In order to restore pages that have come loose to
their original locations, we may choose from a
wide variety of criteria. Of these, I will list eight,

and in a relatively arbitrary order.

The first criterion concerns the outer, cut edges

of the folios. In the reconstruction of SB 2 and 7,

for example, we shall see that the binder did not
cut the paper for these books at perfect right
angles (31). The imprecision of the past helps us
now to distinguish the front from the back of
those pages which have come loose.
The second criterion relates to the width of a
page.The innermost pages of a signature are
generally measurably smaller than the outermost
pages of the same signature. Naturally, the height
is a constant, provided that — bearing in mind the
first criterion — it is always measured in the same
place, either along the outside, cut edge or along
the binding.
The third criterion has to do with the fact that

the cut edges of books are sometimes brushed

with paint. Of the seven sketchbooks, this is the
case with sb i and 7: both are "red along the cut
edge." With the naked eye alone, such traces of signature. In a section of sixteen pages, then, the
paint can be made out on loose sheets as well, page would either come from among pages 1—8 or
providing handy evidence for tracing their origins. 9—16.
The fourth criterion — the pattern of the binding The sixth criterion also concerns the binding
or, in some cases, staple holes — proves time and edge or, better said, what remains of this. Often
again to be of much use as well. Because these the pages now loose were not all too carefully
holes are not always symmetrically distributed removed from the sketchbooks. As a result, the
with regard to each other, they form a sort of binding edges more often than not have
"signature" whereby one can identify the front characteristically erratic tears. In the
and back sides of a folio. In Chapter i we saw reconstruction of the sketchbooks SB z, 6, and 7,
how the difference between such "signatures" — of it will become evident how rewarding it can be to

F 1093 and SB 5, in that particular case — match up the torn edges of folios.
provided conclusive evidence for the impossibility The seventh criterion concerns the folds and
of F 1093 having originated in sb 5. indentations that sometimes occur inadvertently
The fifth criterion once again concerns the as a consequence of the binding procedure.
binding edge of loose pages, and the question of Sometimes the innersides of the covers — never
whether this edge exhibits any traces of the entirely flat — cause a relief to form on the pages
folding procedure. Using this in combination with lying against them. We will see, with SB i and 6,
the foregoing criteria, one can determine whether that the pattern of such a relief can be a factor in
a page comes from the first or the second half of a restoring loose pages to their original locations.

25
 32 SB 7| 141

33 SB 7I138 (Collection Musée

National du Louvre, Cabinet des
Dessins, Paris)

Finally, the eighth criterion concerns the

relationships between the drawings. 1 hereby refer

not so much to cohesion of subject matter, nor to
drawing technique: both factors,
similarity of
though sometimes of some help, seem to me not
entirely reliable as far as actual reconstruction is

concerned. More reliable factors, however, are the

"overflow" of a drawing from one page to the
next, continuations that are sometimes deliberate
and sometimes merely the result of a slip of the
pencil.

An example of two pages whose drawings

correspond nicely with each other is the pair
formed by the fixed SB 7I141 (in Amsterdam, 32)
and the Ipo^e SB 7I138 (in the Louvre, 33). As we
shall see in the reconstruction of the fifth
^Hy
signature of SB 7 (Chapter 139/140 is3), folio

missing. There are also cases — and these occur

frequently — of drawings that rub off on adjacent
pages.With loose pages this sometimes helps to
determine which page originally, or at least at

some stage, lay facing. A good

example of this is
SB 7I137 (the reverse of the above-mentioned
SB 7I 138, in the Louvre, 34) on which a rubbing
of the landscape in SB 7I136 (in Amsterdam, 35)
appears (and vice-versa).
Sometimes drawings also leave impressions on
neighboring — though not adjacent - pages. If for

example page 9 of a signature of twenty-four

pages is the first to be drawn on, it may then be —
and this is so in the fourth signature of SB 6
(36—38) — that, if page 12 is then drawn on with
much force, the drawing on page 9 will act as a
form of carbon paper, and the pattern of the
drawing on page i 2 will appear on page 8 as

well. In this example from SB 6 we also find the

drawing which functions as carbon paper itself

impressed, in reverse, on the adjacent page.

'i'- 23 ^^ '.

34 SB 7I 1 37 (Collection Musée 35 SB7I136

National du Louvre, Cabinet des
The edges of the
Dessins, Paris).
paper are covered by the mat.

26
 ^m^-^

^ AV 'f

36 SB 6|84 made an impression 37 SB é|8i itself rubbed off onto 38 SB ójSo shows a rubbing from
through the earlier drawing SB 6|8i SB 6|8o and acted as carbon paper SB 6|8i and an impression of
onto SB 6|8o for the drawing SB 6I84 SB 6|84

TWO CONDITIONS the measurements of the folios.

It is evident that it only makes sense to submit The second condition, certainly no less

loose sheets to the above eight criteria if, and only important than the first, is that the paper of a
if, the loose sheets in question can reasonably be loose sheet must correspond in type with the
assumed to have originated in one of the paper still present in one of the sketchbooks. A
sketchbooks. In order to pass further judgment, a large number of sheets that conform perfectly to
folio must in any case satisfy two conditions. the first condition do not comply with the second.
The first condition is self-evident: the Though their measurements fall within the given
measurements of a folio may not be greater than range, they are drawn on a different sort of paper.
those of the book. They may, of course, be In order to determine this absolutely, one is
a^
smaller. The sheet may, when all is said and done, obliged - and likewise, highly privileged - to
have been cut. In the reconstruction of SB 6 we examine thoroughly as many "candidate sheets"
encounter a case of a sheet of the characteristic as possible. Paper types are not easily described in

height but not the maximum width, which words, and the aforementioned catalogues
nevertheless fits in quite nicely as a fragment. A raisonnés offer little or no solace in this matter.
practical problem is that the sizes, as published in
the catalogues raisonnés of de la faille 1970
and HULSKER -1980, are, it seems, seldom really
accurate, making it necessary to begin by checking

27

^m
CHAPTER 3

Sketchbooks i—y:
Reconstruction and Full-Size
Illustration

Sketchbook i: Nuenen 29

Sketchbook 1: Nuenen, Antwerp, and Paris 8^

Sketchbook 3; Antwerp 118

Sketchbook 4: Paris i}6

Sketchbook 5; Paris 142

Sketchbook 6: (Antwerp and) Paris 148

Sketchbook 7; Auvers-sur-Oise 112

z8
Sketchbook i: Nuenen

SIZE 39 SB I

The first sketchbook (sb i, 41—88) has remained

virtually intact. Of the seven sketchbooks, this is

the most extravagant in design. The cover (39) is

of vellum, and two sides are painted "red along

the cut edge." A storage flap, now empty, is

located at the back. Attached to the jacket is

another flap, with which the book could at one

time be closed up. The fact that the flap no longer
functions is, presumably, due to considerable
shrinkage in both the jacket and the flap in the
course of time.
A folio taken from the middle of a signature
measures 4^/» x z^/s" (1x4 x 73 mm); the
outermost folio of a signature is z'Vió" (75 mm)
wide. The longitudinal threads of the paper mold
are visible running parallel to the binding of the
book at equal distances of i" to iVió" (25 mm to
27 mm). The paper bears no watermark. The
book is comprised of eight signatures (29),
stitched and glued into the binding. Taking the
book in hand, it is easy to establish that the fourth
and the fifth of the eight signatures are still
complete; each contains twenty-four pages. Here,
as with the sketchbooks to follow, I have no
reason to assume that any one book contained
signatures of a different number of pages. Eight
signatures each originally containing twenty-four
pages (that is, twelve "folios" with a "page" on

either side) comes to a total of eight times twenty-

four, or a hundred and ninety-two pages. The
structure of the signatures of SB i is

diagrammatically described in fig. 4— 11.

PLACING THE FOLIOS

Six folios are "loosely fixed": though they are
missing their other halves, they have remained in

place, held by binding threads. These are the

folios 9/10, 47/48, 49/50, 63/64, 129/130, and
145/146. The folios that belong with them - their
other halves — now missing from the book, are:
15/16, 25/26, 57/58, 71/72, 135/136, and 167/
168. Three problems still remain at this stage: of
the first, the third, and the eighth signatures, the

29
 VINCENT VAN GOGH
100 TEEKENINGEN
40 Cover of the third the middle as pages 59—62.
installment of Vincent van With the
rR/AMFi iNr. HtnnF first and eighth signatures we encounter
Gogh: 100 Drawings
the problem of how securely we are able to
from the Collection Hidde
Nijland in the Museum of establish the number of pages that are affixed to
Dordrecht (Amsterdam, M TE DORDRECHT. the adjacent jackets. To begin with the eighth
1905) with a signature: we see clearly, looking at the book, that
reproduction of F 1338 folio175/176 continues in folio 185/186, with the
(SB i|z5)
understanding that page 186 is not visible by
virtue of its being glued to the storage flap. On the
inner sides of this flap we find the same paper as
the "normal" pages of the sketchbook. These are
the folios 187/188 and 189/190; pages 187 and
190 are again not visible on account of the gluing.
The latter is also the case with the last two pages,
191 and 192. Pages 190 and 191 are glued to
each other, and page 192 to the jacket. Setting the
storage compartment aside for a moment, we see
that the last two folios (189/190 and 191/192) are
complete twenty-four pages have not yet been affixed to the back jacket. Presuming that the
located. Four pages of the third signature have same is true for the first signature, both folios 1/2
literally disappeared without a trace. The and 3/4 should then be affixed to the front jacket.
remaining two missing folios in this signature It looks in fact as if this is the case.
(57/58 and 71/72) have on the left their traces We are left with the problem of there still not
edges of the loosely fixed folios 49/50 and 63/64. I being twenty-four pages in the first signature. The
have been unable to find any indication of where solution to this, however, lies close at hand. One
in the signature these four pages might have been loose folio has in fact been added to the book; as
situated. Perhaps - and, for want of anything this loose folio appears to be folio 5/6, we also
better to moment, I will presume that
go on at the know that folio 19/20 is missing. The loose folio
it is so — they were removed as a group; this complies brilliantly with the seventh and eighth
would mean that they must have been situated in criteria, as formulated in the previous chapter. It

12 13 3^ ^'' 60 (11 84 '^'^

1
1

J 1
14 35 3« 59 (12 ><3 '
8(1

10 15 34 *'' 5« 'V3
82 ^''
1 1

9 16 33 '
4" 57 64 Si 1
88

8 17 32 41 5'' 'V5
8(1 89
7 iS 31 42 55 (1(1 79 90

6 19 3" 43 54 ('7 7« 9"

5 20 21) 44 53 (iS 77 92

4 21 2X 45 52 (K, 7'' 93

3 22 27 4'» 51 711 75 94

2 23 26 47 5" 71 74 95
24 49 72 11
73 oh

fig. 4 SH I
I
first signature fig. 5 SB I
I
second signature fig. 6 sii I third signature fig- 7 SB I
I
fourth sigii.iiure
I

30
exhibits a relief that corresponds exactly with a the eyes and the hands — be considered a first

swelling that occurred in the binding process. And attempt (50 left). Both the measurements and the
furthermore, the drawing runs onto page 4 - that paper used suggest that its provenance might be
is, onto the first visible page of SB i. Even though SB 1. Red stipples from the "red along the cut
this is just barely the case, it nevertheless certainly edge" are also visible, particularly along the long
gives us something to go on. The topmost part of edge of the folio.

the church tower is found on page 4, thus To attempt to locate F 1338 in SB i does not
providing the supplementary evidence that the appear to be so difficult either. We have already
loose foHo must have been folio 5/6. determined which folios it is missing. If we

consider for a moment the lacunae among the

MISSING FOLIOS folios and their immediate surroundings, f 1338
Save for nine folios, the book is now "complete." looks like a fine candidate for folio 25/26. it does

We have succeeded in identifying the missing not take too much imagination to see in the dots
folios: 15/16, 19/20, 2.5/2.6, 57/58, 59/60, 6i/6z, at the lower right at the binding of page 24 a
71/72, 135/136, and 167/168. Should we now continuation of the tree at the left of the drawing
undertake a search for the possible candidates for F 1338. Presumably this is something of a slip of
these missing pages, we find that one after the Van Gogh's pencil.

other can be eliminated, mostly on account of the

second condition described in Chapter 2.

One candidate not to be eliminated is the

drawing F 1338, originally in the collection Hidde
Nijland, thereafter in the private collection of
Mrs. H. Kröller-Müller, and, since 193 1, in

another private collection in The Netherlands.

Until recently, only the side of the folio published
in1905 (40) was known. Since the spring of
1986, when, with the consent of the owner, the
folio was detached from the cardboard to which it

was affixed, the reverse has also been visible; it

contains another sketch, which must — above all

108 1 109 32 133 156 157 180 181

107 ' I 10 131 134 155 158 179 1K2

106 1 1 ] I 130 135 54 159 178 183

105 ' 1 12 129 136 '53 160 77 184

104 113 128 137 152 1(11 176 185

103 114 127 138 '51 162 75 18A

102 1 15 126 139 150 lf.3 74 187

10 1 ' 1 16 125 140 149 164 73 188

100 1 117 124 141 148 165 172 189

99 '
118 123 142 147 166 71 190

9« 1
119 122 143 146 167 170 191

97 1 21 144 145 168 ifiy 192

fig. 8 SB I
I
fifth signature fig. 9 SB I I
sixth signature fig. 10 SB 1
I
seventh signatun fig. ii SB i [eighth signature

31
SKETCHBOOK I (SB l) SB 1I7 and rubbing from 50 SB i\z6
SB I is comprised of 8 signatures, SB l|9 Woman Seated at Table.
each containing iz or 24
folios, SB 1I9 Pencil; corrosion caused by ink
pages, that are stitched and glued Man with Hayfork and Hoe, from SB 1I25. Private
into a vellum jacket. The folios On His Way to Work (after collection. The Netherlands
measure 4^/8 x z'Vió" (1Z4 x 73/75 Millet). Galnut ink; jH 554 SB 1I27
mm). Of the total of 96 folios, 80 Head of a Woman. Pencil;
sit securely in the cover, 6 are 44 SB i|io JH 568
loosely fixed, 2 are loose,and 8 are Woman in the Fields.
missing at present. Of the 192 Lithographic chalk; corrosion 51 SB l|28
pages, 10 are not visible on account caused by ink from SB 1I9; Head of a Woman.
of their being glued to the jackets or JH 555 Lithographic chalk; jh 591
used for the storage flap. Of the SB l|l I SB 1I29
remaining pages, 92 are blank. Sower. Galnut ink; jh 556 Head of a Woman.
Thirty-one of the 74 pages Lithographic chalk; jh 592
containing drawings or text are 45 SB 1I12
published here for the first time. Head of a Man. Pencil; jh 557 52 SB 1I30
The preserved folios are located in SB l|l3 The Parsonage Garden,
theRijksmuseum Vincent van Head of a Man. Pencil; jh 559 Nuenen. Lithographic chalk;
Gogh, Amsterdam, on permanent VB n p. 444, JH 599 SB 1I31
loan from the Vincent van Gogh 46 SB I [14 The Old Tower, Nuenen.
Foundation. The single exception is Notes. Charcoal Lithographic chalk; vb n
the folio SB 1I25/26 now in a SB 1I15/16 p. 444, JH 598

private collection in The Missing folio

Netherlands. SB l|l7 53 SB 1I32
The pages containing drawings or Rubbing from sb i|i4 The Parsonage Garden,
text and the adjacent blank pages, if Nuenen. Lithographic chalk;
any, are illustrated in their full 47 SB i|i8 JH 601
dimensions on pages 35—82. Head of a Woman. Pencil; SB 1I33
JH 573 Rubbing from SB 1I32
S B 9/20
1 1 1

Missing folio 54 SB 1I34

SB i|i-3 Blank
SB ijzi
Not visible on account of SB 1I35
Landscape. Pencil and
gluing Catherine's Church,
lithographic chalk; corrosion St.

caused by mk from sb ijzi Eindhoven, Pencil; vb n

41 SB
437, JH 606
I
I4 p.
Inventory label
48 SB 1 122
SB 1I5
Two Heads. Galnut ink; 55 SB 1I36
The Church at Tongelre. Penci Indistinct image. Pencil;
JH 577
and lithographic chalk; rubbing from SB
SB 1 23 1
1
[37
corrosion caused by ink from SB 1I37
Corrosion caused by ink from
SB i|6; JH 640 Head of a Woman and an
SB I
I24
indistinct image. Pencil
42 SB I |6
49 SB 1 1
24
Head of a Man. Galnut ink;
56 SB 1I38
Two Heads. Galnut ink
JH 641 With Horse and Carriage in
SB I
I25
SB l|7 the Fields. Pencil
Couple Walking. Galnut ink
Woman Harvestmg. Galnut
and pencil; K v^^^ J" 9<^4- 1
SB l|?9
ink and jH 553
pencil; Design for a perspective frame.
Private collection. The
Netherlands Pencil
43 SB i|8
Corrosion caused by ink from

32.
 8

57 SB 1I40 63 SB t|74 70 SB I [lOZ

Woman Walking. Pencil and Rubbing from SB 1I75 Undeveloped contours. Ink
lithographic chalk; jh 670 SB 1I75 SB i|io3
SB 1I41 Indistinct image. Lithographic Seated Woman. Ink; JH 671
Rubbing from sb 1I40 chalk
SB I j
104— 109
SB i|4Z-45 SB 1I76-77 Blank
Blank Blank
71 SB 1 I 10
58 SB i|46 64 SB 1I78 Two Male Heads. Pencil;
Male Figure. Lithographic Notes. Pencil JH 637
chalk; JH 673 SB 1I79 SB I III
SB 1I47 Notes. Pencil Female Figure. Pencil and
Head of a Woman. Pencil lithographic (?) chalk
SB i|8c^89
SB i|48— 49 Blank SB I I 12— I 15
Blank Blank
65 SB I 90
59 SB 1I50 Woman in the Fields. 72 SB l|ll6
Profile, design for a perspective Lithographic ch:ilk Two Women Walking.
frame, and a color spectrum. SB r|9i-93 Lithographic chalk; jh 674
Pencil; Blank SB I 117
VB III p. 16 Indistinct image. Chalk
SB 1I51 66 SB 1I94
Design for a perspective frame. Construction drawing. Pencil 73 SB 1 118
Pencil SB 1I95 Indistinct image. Lithographic
Blank (partially trimmed) chalk
SB 1I52.-55 SB I 119
Blank 67 SB 1I96 Rubbing from SB i 1 1

Volume study 0:f a heaid. Pencil

60 SB 1I56 (partially trimmed) SB 1I97 SB I 120— 121
Notes. Lithographic chalk Head of a Man. Pencil Blank
SB 1I57-62 JH 634
Missing pages 74 SB 1 122 1

SB i|63 68 SB 1I98 Female Figure. Lithographic

Blank Impression from SB 1I97 chalk; jh 669
SB 1I99 SB l|l23
61 SB i|64 Head of a Man. Pencil and The Parsonage Garden.
Hand. Lithographic (?) chalk galnut ink; vb n p. 459, Nuenen. Pencil; rubbing from
SB i|65 JH 636 SB i|i22; JH 639
Hand. Lithographic (?) chalk
69 SB 1 1 100 75 SB l|l24
SB 1 1 66-69 Impression and corrosion The Weigh-House (Post
Blank caused by ink from sb 1I99 Office), Eindhoven.
SB i|ioi Pencil; VB 11 p. 433, jH 638
62 SB I
I70 Man with Wheelbarrow. SB l|l25
Head of a Woman. Pencil and Pencil; vb hi p. 53, jh 635 Impression from sb i 123
lithographic chalk; jH 607
SB 1I71/72
Missing folio
SB 1I73
Scribbles. Lithographic chalk

33
76 SB ijlZÓ 82 SB 1I164 88 SB 1I184
Arm. Lithographic chalk Design for a perspective frame. Ttvo People Walking. Pencil
SB l|l27 Pencil and lithographic chalk; jh 675
Rubbing from SB 1I126 SB 1I165 SB 1I185
Design for a perspective frame. Impression from s b i |
i 83
SB i|iz8— 134 Pencil
Blank SB 1I186-187
SB 1I135/136 83 SB l|lé6 Not visible on account of
Missing folio Head of a Woman. Galnut gluing
SB 1I137-141 ink; rubbings from the now SB 1I188-189
Blank missing SB 1I167 and from Storage flap
SB 1I169; JH 646 SB 1I190-192
77 SB 1I142 SB l|lé7/l68 Not visible on account of
Indistinct image. Pencil Missing folio gluing
SB i|i43 SB i!i69
Blank Head of a Woman.
Lithographic chalk; jh 680
SB 1I144— 145
Blank 84 SB 1I170
Two Heads. Pencil; jh 660
78 SB 1I146 SB 1I171
Head of a Woman. Head of a Woman. Pencil;
Lithographic chalk; jh 642 JH 659
SB i|i47
Head of a Woman. SB 1
I172-173
Lithographic chalk; jh 643 Blank

SB 1I148— 153 85 SB i|i74

Blank Blank
SB I
I175
79 SB 1I154 Design for a perspective frame.
Female Figure. Lithographic Pencil
chalk; JH 667
SB i|i 55 SB 1I176— 179
Rubbing from SB 1 1

1 54 Blank

80 SB 1I156 86 SB 180
I j

Animal Heads. Lithographic Blank

chalk; rubbing from SB 1I157 SB |l8l
I

SB i|i 57 Head of a Woman. Pencil;

Female Figure. Lithographic jh 661
chalk; jh 668
87 SB 1 1182
SB 1
I
I 58— 161 Head of a Woman. Pencil;
Blank JH 663
SB 1I183
81 SB l|l62 Head of the Mower with Hat.
Blank Pencil and rubbing from
SB 1I163 SB i|i 82; JH 662
Design for a perspective frame.
Pencil

34
 41 SB i|4-5

RIJKSMUSEUM VINCENT VAN GOGH

INV. NR d 4.1 i V/tö^è:

35
42 SB 1 16-7

36
43 SBi|8-9

37
44 SB i| lo-i 1
 45 SB i|iz-i3

-T^ r-"'- T- .afwu II

.
« . >—»— —^W

39
46 SB III4-I7

40
 47 SB i|i 8-zi

#—

m <-*

41
-^^
48 SB l|z2-23

42
 49 SB 1I24-25

!
^1.

43
 50 SB 1I26-27

I 'h hi ti-IS

44
 51 SB 1I28-Z9

%
I

45
52 SB 1I3O-3I

46
 53 SBi|32-33

.*w~

''
*j

47
54 SBi|34-35

48
 55 SB 1136-37

<
I

49
 3
n

56 SB 1 1
8-39

50
57 SB 1I40-4]

51
58 SB 1
I46-47

...A

52-
 59 SB r [50-51

A
A

^>

f> c,.^ ^M^

^.^ 3^ / /' .^ ^^ f
'

53

^mt
 1

6o SB 1 56-63

-^.^--^.,
-^__-J

54
 6l SB I
I64-65

SS

IV
62 SB I I7O-73

../

^J^A*

56
 63 SB 1I74-75

^-^
^

J7
64 SB 1I78-79

/.;
7
<1 -r
7
rö
1
\

1
J. f

5S
65 SB I I9O-9I

59
66 SB 1 194-95

60
67 ^B 1 196-97

61
68 SB1I98-99

••'^'"^

6z
 69 SB i|ioo-ioi

y*

63
yo SBijioz-io^

/ ^ /
\

) -A-
/
^ ^^ " \) 'f

k'
'

\ ^

64
 71 SB 1 1 1 r o-i I I

6j

.
 1

72 SB 1 1 i6-i 17

iZ-/-,

i I

J^oi^rS

66
 73 SB 1 1
1 I 8-1 1 9

^^'i;H^: ^^*.
1» « f
^'^'^
":êïü*'

67
74 SB I
I
1 22-1 Z^

6H
 75 SB 1I124-1Z5

'*•?*)>'<'"

69
jG SB I 1
1 26-1 27

70
 77 SB i| 142--' 43

r
1

-^>^, '

* r

7J
yS SB 1 1

1
46-1 47

72
79 SBi|i54-i55

75
8o SB i|i 56-1 57

74
 8l SB I I 62-16^

75
82 SB I
I
164-165

fjv

76
 83 SB i| I 66-1 69

N,

77
84 SB 11170-171

!'w,.!'".iqi 'S.

**4

kn:^^'^.?
-a
..i'r^

78
85 SBi|i74-i7S

79
 86 SBii8o-i8i

80
 Sy SB 1 1 1 Si- 1 83

W W>"*'WP"!t '
'I

.<ls

81
88 SB 1I184-185

8z
 Sketchbook 2: Nuenen, Antwerp, and F avis

89 SB 2

SIZE apparently two of the three staples that are still

The cover of the second sketchbook (sb z, secure in the binding (90). The third staple, still

93-132) is of black pasteboard (89). Each attached to the binding though not to a signature,
signature is attached to the binding with two is apparently the lowermost staple of the second
staples and glue. The paper is fairly heavy, shows signature. The uppermost staple of that signature
no traces of a paper mold, and bears no is still in place.

watermark. The measured from the

folio size, The reconstruction of the fourth signature
middle of a signature, is 4V1 6 x 5V8"(io3 x 136 mm) suggests that the original signature size was eight
— that is, along the binding and the upper edge. folios, or sixteen pages. In total, then, there must
Measured along the cut edge and the lower edge, have been four times sixteen, or sixty-four pages.
the dimensions are 4 X 5V16" (102 and 135 mm), The signature format is diagrammatically
respectively. The width of an outermost folio of a described in figs. 12—15.
signature does not seem by comparison to be
much greater. PLACING THE FOLIOS
The last two signatures — or at least what Five double folios are still located in the
remains of them in the sketchbook — are still sketchbook: 1/2/15/16 (page i is glued to the
attached to the binding by staples. Both staples of jacket), 21/22/27/28, 33/34/47/48, 53/54/59/60,
the first signature have come loose; these are and 49/50/63/64 (page 64 is glued to the jacket).

«3

L
90 Traces of binding on inside of
spine of SB z

The sixth double foHo, 5/6/1 i/iz, consists of two loose folio 51/52; secondly, an impression of the
loose foHos whose torn edges (91) seem to be in edge of folio 53/54, which is cut approximately
perfect correspondence: f 1381, presently in a 1V16 X I V4" (26 to 31 mm) shorter in width than
passe-partout, and a folio that is inserted loosely folio 51/52, runs along the lefthand side of page
in the book, which until now has not been 52 at just approximately that distance, i.e.,

published. Like the sixth double folio, the seventh 1V16X 1V4" (26 to 31 mm) from the edge. The
~ 55/56/57/58 "~ consists of two loose folios with location of page 55, and thus of the double folio
matching torn edges (92). Folio 55/56 appears in 55/56/57/58, can be determined in the same way.
DE LA FAILLE 1970 as number SD 1697; page 58 Page 55 bears traces of the drawing on page 54
is number SD 1693b. Page 57 has until now never (and again, vice-versa) as well as of the cut edge
been published. of folio 53/54. For folio 61/62 I have been unable
Of the remaining folios, two are loosely fixed: to find an appropriate candidate. The relief along
23/24 and 45/46. Though they are still held in the torn edge of page 56 (caused by the staples)
place by staples, their partners, 25/26 and 35/36, gives reason to assume that it was originally
are missing. None of the five loose folios is an apt situated in the middle of a signature. Thus the
candidate; their torn edges do not correspond original size of the signatures must be sixteen
with those of 23/24 and 45/46. When 1 began my pages.
research, four of these were loosely inserted in the Page SB 2I50 is a curiosity. In Dt la faille
cover of SB 2. The front side of the fifth loose 1970 and in hulsker 1980, this page is

folio — now in a passe-partout - appears as illustrated as so i693f and J" 9^91 respectively;
number F 1344 in DE LA faille 1970. in order in both, a fragment at the lower left is missing.
to place the five loose folios, it is first necessary to That this fragment is now in place is not the result
determine the size of the signatures. The fourth of a recent restoration, postdating both
signature makes this feasible. publications. Rather, it is missing in both
catalogues raisonnés on account of the fact that
SB 2|fourth signature the illustrations are not, it seems, taken from the
As we have just seen, two double folios of the original, but from the partially squared-off figure
fourth signature arc still in place. Identifying at XLVii in TRALBAUT 1 948. The drawing indeed
least the righthand half of the double folio 49/50/ already appears in full in tralbaut 1958 as

63/64 is possible because page 64 is affixed to the fig. LXIX.

jacket. Identification of the other double-folio
pages 53/54/59/60 is based on the following: SB 2I FIRST SIGNATURE
firstly, the drawing on page 50 has rubbed off Except for its righthand side, page i 2 bears traces
partly onto page 5 i (and vice-versa as well) of the of an impression from page i 5. 1 presume that a

s 24 25 4<i 41 Sfi 57
''
1

7
'
ID 23 26 39 42 55 58

6 '
22 27 3« 43 54 59
1 '

S 1 2 2 1 2K 37 44 53 ho

4 '-^ 20 2y .V> 45 52 (>i

1

11) 3" 3.S 4'' 51 62

7,
'

14

2 '^ IS .^' 34 47 5" ^•3

1

1> 49 hi
1 '
1
33

fig. II SB i I
first signature- fig. n sH 1 second signature
1
fig. 14 sh ijthirii sign.mirv tig. IS sii 1 1 toiirili signature

S4
 1\

fragment of folio i ^/i4, which in the meantime

has been lost, is responsible for the fact that the
lefthand part of the quotation has not rubbed off
on page 12. The thickness of the jacket, however,
may also have been responsible for this. The
bizarre variations in the orientation of the
drawings on pages 6 and 1 1 can be clarified by
situating the double folio 7/8/9/10, now missing,
in between. My guess is that Van Gogh drew page
7 same direction, so to speak, as he did
in the

page 6, and so also page 10 as he did page 11.

Traces of the drawing on page 5 (f 1381 verso)
appear on page 4 (f 1344 verso). Though these
traces may appear to show a self-standing 91 Corresponding edges 92 Corresponding edges
drawing of a man walking toward the right, this is SB 2I5/6 and 1 1/12 SB 2I55/56 and 57/58

not the case. They clearly represent, in reverse,

various parts of the seated woman on page 5. The
drawing on page 3 shows, parallel with the because the curve along the binding edge of page
binding edge at the left, traces of the light relief of 41 corresponds with that of page 38. Both are
the jacket which also appear on page 2. There is presumably the result of the presence, formerly, of

no loose folio available of which the torn edge the rough edge of folio 39/40, which has in the
corresponds to that of folio 3/4; we must thus meantime been lost. The texts on pages 42 and 45
conclude that folio 13/14 of the first signature, would seem to be of two adjacent pages. I

along with the middle folio, is also missing. nevertheless believe that the folio 43/44, matching
folio 37/38, originally separated the two.
SB 2|SEC0ND SIGNATURE
In the second signature, page 20 bears traces of
rubbings from page 21 while page 21, in turn,

bears, among others, traces of the cut edge of

folio 19/20.At the right of page 27, traces of the
notes on page 22 appear. Unlike page 16, page 19
shows no traces of gluing along the binding edge;
I am therefore led to assume that this is not the
outermost folio 1 7/1 8/3 1/3 2 of the signature. As
far as it is possible to determine at the moment,
the entirety of this outermost folio has been lost,
as has folio 29/30.

SB IJTHIRD SIGNATURE
Finally, in the third signature, folio 37/38 is

identifiable as such on account of the impression

on page 37 of the cut edge of folio 33/34. We
have already seen that folio 35/36 is missing. In
my opinion, folio 41/42 can be identified as such

8S
 SKETCHBOOK Z (SB z) 97 SB 2|6 107 SB 2I24
SB 2 is comprised of 4 signatures, City View. Pencil; f 1381 Citation. Pencil; a strip 2V16"
each containing 8 folios or 16 recto, JH 1023 (55 mm) wide missing at the
pages, which are bound in a left; TRALBAUT I948 fig. IV
pasteboard cover with staples and SB 2I7— ID
glue. The folios measure 4/4'/. 6 x Missing pages SB 2I25/26
5Vi6/5'/s" (102/103 ^ 135/136 mm). Missing folio
Of the 32 folios, 10 sit securely in 98 SB 2|l I

the cover, 2 are loosely fixed, 9 are Digger, Discobolus (and 108 SB 2I27
loose, and 1 1 are missing at present. notes). Pencil Plasterof Female Nude.
Two of the 64 pages are not visible Pencil;rubbing from
on account of their being glued to 99 SB 2|i 2 SB 2I22; SD i693i, JH 100^
the jackets. Three pages are blank. Walking Man. Pencil;
Of the 37 pages containing rubbing from SB 2] 15 109 SB 2[28
drawings or text, 16 are published Notes. Pencil and chalk;
here for the first time. The 4 SB 2I13/14 rubbing from SB 2I33/34;
published tralbaut 1948,
in Missing folio TRALBAUT I948 fig. Ill

though not in de la faille 1970

or HULSKER 1980, are listed as 100 SB 2I15 SB 2I29— 32
such. In all other instances, the f/sd Citation. Chalk; rubbing Missing pages
and JH numbers, if any, will suffice. from SB 2J 16
The preserved folios are located in 101 SB 2I 16 1 10 SB 2|?3
the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Citation. Pencil; rubbing Notes. Pencil; a strip i"h(,"
Gogh, Amsterdam, on permanent from SB 2I19/20 (42 mm) wide missing at the
loan from the Vincent van Gogh right; tralbaut 1948 fig. V
Foundation. SB 2I17/18
The pages containing drawings or Missing folio 111 SB 2I34
text and the adjacent blank pages, if Head of a Wonian. Pencil; a
any, are illustrated m their full 102 SB 2I 19 strip I
"/16" (42 mm) wide
dimensions on pages 88-127. Head of a Woman (and missing at the left; so 1695,
notes). Pencil and chalk; a JH 994
SB 2|l Strip ''/16"
(14 mm) wide
Not visible on account of missing at the right SB 2I35/36
gluing Missing folio
103 SB 2I2O
93 SB 2I2 Notes. Pencil and chalk; a 112 SB 2I37
Notes. Pencil strip ">/,("
(14 mm) wide Rubbing from sb 2(^/34
missing at the left

94 SB 2I3 1 13 SB 2I38
Cottage, Nuenen. Lithographic 104 SB 2I21 Plaster of Pcmalc Nude.
chalk; VB III p. 39, F 1
344, Head of a Man. Cihalk; Pencil; SD i693h, jh 1002
JH 801 SD 1694, JH 995
SB 2I39/40
95 SB 2.I4 105 SB 2I22 Missing folio
Notes. Lithographic chalk; Standing Nude (and notes).
rubbing from sb 2I5 Chalk; TRALBAUT 948 I I 14 SB 2I4 I

fig. II Head of a Woman. Pencil

96 SB 2I5 and ink
Seated Woman. Pencil; f i ?8i 106 SB 2I23
verso, JH 1024 Blank. A strip z'/ih" (55 mm) SB 2I42
wide missing at the right Notes. Pencil and ciiaik

S6

V
 SB 2I43/44 126 SB 2J55
Missing folio Foot. Chalk; rubbing from
SB 2I54; SD 1697 verso,
116 SB 2I45 JH lOOI
Notes. Pencil
127 SB 2I56
117 SB 2J46 Four Feet (and notes). Chalk
Head of a Woman. Pencil and pencil; SD 1697 recto,
and chalk; rubbing from JH 1000
SB 2.I47; SD 1693e, JH 986
128 SB 2I57
118 SB ZJ47 Head. Chalk
Arm and Standing Woman.
Chalk and pencil; rubbing 129 SB ZI58
from SB ZI46; SD 1693J, Two Women Walking Along
JH Too6 a Quay. White and black
chalk; SD 1693b, JH 991
119 SB z|48
Foot. Chalk; rubbing from 130 SB 2I59
SB 2.I49 A Cart in the Fields. Chalk;
SD 1693a, JH 992
120 SB 2I49
Foot. Chalk; rubbing from 131 SB 2J60
SB 2I48 Sower. Chalk

121 SB 2I50 SB 2J61/62

tiand (and notes). Chalk and Missing folio
pencil; rubbing from
SB 2I51; SD i693f, JH 989 132 SB 2I63
Inventory label
122 SB z|5i
Hand (and notes). Chalk and SB 2I64
pencil; rubbing from Not visible on account of
SB 2I50; SD i693g, JH 990 gluing

123 SB 2I5Z
Knee. Chalk; rubbing from
SB 2I53/54; SD 1693c,
JH 987

124 SB z|53
Knee. Chalk; a strip ranging
inwidth from 1V16" (z6 mm)
above to I'A" (31 mm),
below, missing at the right;
SD 1693d, JH 988

125 SB z|54
Foot. Chalk; rubbing from
SB 2I55; a strip ranging in
width from I'/it" (z6 mm),

above, to i^W (31 mm),

below, missing at the left

«7
93 SB z|2

88
94 SBz|3

89
95 SBz|4

^^
^ V hx.

•il
V

, 1

-T''

-* «^

; r

90
 96 SB 2I5

-^

^x
\ ;,

'J
il

91
97 SB z|6

9^
 98 SB z\

^ é'

93
99 SB 2|l z

^^^^.1

94
 lOO SB 2| I
5

^^^ -^i<^ ^^-^ ^.vhV w< l--- i^- ^^

f^uvKli ^ ^

o<

95
lOI SB 2 l6

9(>
 I02 SB 2j I
9

/'

^''"^
iV-.^-)

V "v.. V

,v

I;. . ^^ ^

97
103 SB 2|20

98
I04 SB 2|2I

99
105 SB 2|22

"ir^-rr
.
'
iA' W:> smm
i jt mvmm^mmm-v'
res

r-'

1 ^
tr^

I i

JOO
 io6 SB 2|z3

p_.

lOl
I07 SB z|z4

J ^^
^

-i^

o^

#*»
4

102
lOÖ SB 2|Z7

103
109 SB i|z8

' w"?ïBi?.,« •
'. -^y

1
*r...

CD r--

<^ \ Q

r
"J
y
%

104
 no SB 2|3 3

f ^/)A

.^v^i
f

\ . w \\.

UM, V
5

It

10^

^^^Êm
Ill SB x|34

io6
 112 SB z|37

«V-p

Ï
*^

m
lUft* ., < A,^ i tmUH' I >inriffM»iti«*i.ii4»iWWlll*ii

107
113 SB 2.I38

'^""W^

ii

108
 I 14 SB 2I4I

r-

R*^

If

Li^^A.

io<^
115 SB 2I42

«^
fl^^^e^^^D
\
u s-Vry/ l^,,
I?.-..-
K--

If 1
]/
n i?
J

.n<y.

;\ /

/ /O
 ii6 SB z|45

1^??J5?\

•*.

(7<Ap-|
^rrytiM^/l; •p-mA*^'.'-'

L>!^

III

J
iiy SB 2|4f

Tï yi>~
P

v>».

Ill
 '^r

ii8 SB z|47

113
119 *•& 2I48

'-TT-r-^^r^^Tifl»-»'

-^t^

i
i.

^^}^..-*

114
I20 SB 2|49

IIJ
121 SB Z|50

^ J

% •>v

...tl^.,^ i

ii6
 122 SB 2|5

_^ ^, vj3_ iiirfu ^^»m

117
123 SB 2152.

'*' "?^

. i

ii8
 124 ^B z|5 3

^;,:-;

119
125 SBz|54

no
 126 SB 2I55

yssz vj
.,
^'"1

ixi
127 SB 2|5<

Ol U (

IZ2
128 SB z|57

-l'

123

J
129 SB z|5!

124
 130 SB 2I59

r,.,,i^..^wjff^|#'

4 ^

i*>i.'

12.S
131 SB z|6o

If

:-

^
i
V

iz6
132 SB 2|63

IZJ
Sketchbook 3; Antwerp

SIX FOLIOS SKETCHBOOK 3 (SB 3)

Of the third sketchbook (SB 3, 133—139), only a It is not possible to establish the
original format of the sketchbook.
small number of folios have been preserved. No
The folios measure ^Vs x 6''l\b"
more than six folios, containing a total of seven (9ZX i66 mm).
drawings, are identifiable as such. These appear in The 6 folios of SB 3 are located in
DE LA FAILLE 1970 numbers F 1350, f 1350a,
as the Rijksmuseum Vincent van

F 1350b, F 1355, F 1358, and F 1359. All six of Gogh, Amsterdam, on permanent
loan from the Vincent van Gogh
the folios are of the same height: 3V8" (92 mm).
Foundation.
In width, however, they differ. The widest are
Those pages with drawings are
F 1350 and F 1355, both measuring ó^/ia" (166 illustrated in their full dimensions
mm) across. Both f 1350a and f 1350b are öVs" on pages 129—35.
(161 mm) wide along the top and approximately
133 SB 3I1
(163/164 mm) respectively, along the
6^/16"
Head of a Man. Lithographic
bottom. The two portrait folios F 1358 and f
chalk; F 1359, JH 984
1359 are both 6'/i" (165 mm) wide. These
differences in width are easily explained by the 134 SB 3|z
fact that the folios were removed from the book Head of a Mau. Lithographic
chalk; F 1358, JH 980
with varying degrees of care. The paper is fairly

heavy. It bears no watermark and shows no traces

135 SB3I3
of a paper mold. City Vietv. Lithographic
Only F 1350 (sB 3 1
5/6) contains drawings on chalk; ¥ 1355, jH 966
both sides. The binding edge is the lefthand side
I 36 SB ;J4
of what DE LA FAILLE 1970 calls F I 350 recto; of
Dance Hall. Black
F 1350 verso it is, accordingly, the righthand side. lithographic, blue, and red
F 1350a and F 1 350b contain drawings on only chalk; F i 5oh, jh 969
3
one side but both bear traces of rubbings on the
verso — albeit unidentifiable - from other chalk
Castle "'t Steen," Antwerp.
drawings. There are blue stripes on the back of
Black lithographic, blue, red,
F 1350a, while F 1350b has mostly black stripes
and green chalk; vb in p. 4,
and, to a lesser degree, blue and red chalk F 1350 recto, JH 976
rubbings. The verso sides of the other three folios
are entirely blank. 138 SB 3|6

As the original jacket has been lost, it cannot be

Two Women in a Box at the
Theater. Black lithographic,
compared with the binding holes that exist. As a and red chalk;
blue, F 1350
result, the recto and verso sides can no longer be verso, JH 967
identified as such, to say nothing of determining
the original sequence of folios. Furthermore, it is 139 SB 3I7
Dance Hall. Lithographic,
entirely impossible to estimate how many pages
blue, and red chalk; F 1350a,
the book originally contained. The identifying
JH 968
numbers 1—7 are thus absolutely arbitrarily
assigned, as is also true of the "page numbers"
assigned to the folios in SB 4 and SB 5.

128
133 SB3|i

,.)

119
134 SB 3 1 2.

1%

I ?o
"35 SB3l3

131
136 SB 3I4

132
 137 SB3l5

133

.^s^m
138 SB 3J6

134
139 SB3|7

I3J
Sketchbook 4: Paris

FOUR FOLIOS SKETCHBOOK 4 (SB 4)

Like SB 3 and 5, only fragments of the fourth It isnot possible to establish the
original format of the sketchbook.
sketchbook (sb 4, 140—144) have been preserved.
The folios measure 4 x ó'^/ió"
The jacket has been lost; here, too, we are unable
(loi X 167 mm).
to determine the original number of folios. On the The 4 folios of SB 4 are located in
basis of the type of paper used (once again fairly the Rijksmuseum Vincent van
heavy and without either watermark or traces of a Gogh, Amsterdam, on permanent
loan from the Vincent van Gogh
paper mold) and the measurements, I believe it is
Foundation.
possible to conclude that the following four folios
Those pages with drawings are
belong to sb 4. These appear as numbers F 1380, illustrated in their full dimensions
F 1386, 1394, and SD 1704 in de la faille
F on pages 137-41.
1970. The four folios measure uniformly 4 x 6V16"
140 SB 4I1
(loi X 167 mm). Only F 1380 (SB 4I3/4) contains
View of Montmartre. Brown
drawings on both sides. Given the evidence
ink and blue, black, and red
provided by the binding marks, 1 would be chalk; F 1394, JH 1 181
inclined to label recto and verso in exactly the

opposite order of what appears in de la faille 141 SB 4I2

Street Scene. Pencil, brown
1970.
ink, and blue, green, red, and
yellow chalk; SD 1704,
JH 1035

142 SB 413
Man on a Bench, Horse, and
other designs including a
painter's easel, ink and
pencil; F i 380 verso,
JH 1020

143 SB 4I4
Street with People Wijlkini^.
Chalk; F i 380 recto,

J u 1019

144 SB 4I5
People Walking in a Park.
Pencil; F i ^86, jH 1022

136
140 SB 4| I

137
141 SB4|2.

138
 142 SB 413

o)

»r*»-*^^
/

! 1

\:

139
143 SB4l4

T40
 144 SB4|5

-7* -4^
'v

141
Sketchbook j: Paris

THREE FOLIOS SKETCHBOOK 5 (SB 5)

Compared to the two previous sketchbooks, fewer It is not possible to establish the
original format of the sketchbook.
folios still of the fifth sketchbook (sb 5, 145—149)
The folios measure 5V1A x 8 'A"
have been preserved. Thus far, 1 have been able to
(131 X 215 mm). Two 5 of the
identify only three of them: F 1362, SD 1716, and pages containing drawings are
a loose folio that was carelessly appended to SB 6. published here for the first time.

The height of the binding edge of f 1362 and SD The three folios of sb 5 are
located inRijksmuseum Vincent
the
1 71 6 is 5V16" (131 mm); though the height of the
van Gogh, Amsterdam, on
third folio appears to be the same, the severe
permanent loan from the Vincent
crumpling of its made it difficult to *%ke
edges has van Gogh Foundation.
precise measurements. The longer sides measure 8 Those pages with drawings are
Vi" (215 mm), 8V16" (207 mm), and illustrated in their full dimensions
on pages 143-47-
approximately 8^/16" (214 mm). The paper is
somewhat thinner than that of SB 3 and 4. It SB 5I1
145
bears no watermark or any traces of a paper Plaster Torso (and notes).
mold. F 1362 and SD 1716 contain drawings on Pencil, blue and black chalk;
both sides. One side of the third folio contains SD 1716 recto, JH 1073
merely a quick scrij^ble.
146 SB 5Ji
The verso side of f 1362 (sb 5I3) has, as far as I
Plaster Torso and Landscape
know, never been published before. The author of with a Bridge, Black chalk
the inventory card for this folio, in the and pencil; sd 1716 verso,

Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, and the editors JH 1074

of DE LA FAILLE 1970 inform us that the verso
147 SB 5I3
side is not from the hand of Van Gogh. The
Portrait Heads. Pencil;
fourteen portraits in sb 5I3 seem to me to be corrosion taused by ink from
drawn after fragments of magazine illustrations. SB 5I4
Numerous similar heads arc to be found in the
148 SB 5I4
collection of such illustrations assembled by
Male Nude and Digger.
Vincent (and Theo). Given the specialization of Galnut ink and pencil;
the subject of sb 5I3, the deviation of the drawing F I 36Z recto, JH 1009
style from the "free" work seems to me to provide
insufficient grounds for doubting the authenticity '49 SB 5I5
Standing Pigure. Pencil
of these drawings.

14Z
 147 "iB^L^

<"

%
?.*>

f'!

'4>4<

J4#
 148 SB 5I4

•\

*% -:JP,

146
 •49 SB5ls

^^v-***. :- »• — «(S*;,-: IWiWJ^ÜÈifcfeiivliJftja^;

147
 Sketchbook 6: (Antwerp and) Paris

P'

«ÉIÉI UfM «üüidBite ^H^utt^kabjAMMigaaMai

150 SB 6 SIZE consisted of twelve folios, or twenty-four pages.

Following the intermezzo of the three sketchbooks The structural format of the signatures is

presently missing their jackets (sb 3, 4, and 5), the diagrammatically described in figs. 16—19.
jacket of the sixth sketchbook (sb 6, 160—217)
has, fortunately, been preserved (150). The SB 6|fourth signature
exterior is covered with linen. The folio measures Though the double folios 79/80/89/90 and 81/82/
4V16 X 73/4" (i 10 X 197 mm) at the middle of a 87/88 (f 1354a in DE LA FAILLE 1970) have come
signature. The maximum width of an outermost loose from the binding, their respective halves are
folio of a signature is 7^/s" (zoo mm). still attached to each other. We saw in Chapter 2
The supposed four signatures — of fairly heavy (36-38) that a remarkable combination occurs on
paper and bearing neither watermark nor traces page 80: that of the portrait on page 81 and the
of a paper mold — were stitched and glued into the nude on page 84. The same occurs on page
plaster
binding. Only the following folios still sit securely 83. Presumably, Van Gogh only drew page 84
in the cover: 1/2/23/24, 3/4, 5/6/1 9/zo, 77/78/91/ after pages 81 and 82. The torn edge of folio

92, 93/94, and 95/96. believe it is possible to

1 83/84 corresponds nicely with that of folio 85/86
conclude, on the basis of the correlation — to be (151). Along the inner edge of page 85
illustrated forthwith - between the folios of the indentations arc clearly visible in the paper; these
fourth signature, that the signatures originally were caused by the binding threads. We may

148
 151 Corresponding
edges SB 6 [83/84 and
85/86

therefore assume that page 85 (and thus page 84 defensible. For the sake of consistency, 1 appena a

as well) was situated at the middle of the fourth provisional question mark to the assigned page
signature. numbers 75 and 76.
Not only does the cut edge of folio 87/88 appear
on page 86 as a rubbing; the raised areas on the SB 6|first signature
inside of the back cover have also left marks. The The first signature does not lend itself to

latter has come about because folio 87/88 was reconstruction as readily as the fourth. But there
narrowed, and because a good-sized piece of folio is still something to work from. Here again, the
89/90 has been trimmed away. I have located this first three folios are glued to the jacket, making
detached fragment. It is listed and described in de page 6 the first visible page. Page 13 shows
LA FAILLE 1970 as number F 992. It corresponds various marks from the jacket (page 6), on the
precisely with what remains of folio 89/90 (152). outermost edges and along the binding. Because a
The drawing on the edge also corresponds well protruding remainder of page 12 is still attached
we know a page from the
with page 90 and, as
sufficient, just like
if that were not already
page 86, f 99Z shows traces of
to page 13,
second part of the
that
first
it is

signature. Because of the

%
the raised areas in the back jacket. traces from page 6, we are clearly dealing with

The three last folios of the fourth signature are folio 13/14 - and not 15/16 or 17/18. In addition
affixed to the jacket such that pages 9Z-96 are to its own text, page 14 also contains a rubbed-off
not visible. The torn edges of folios 93/94 and 95/ bit of the text on page 19. Closer to the middle,

96 are, however, visible at the binding; they are though, we also find a rubbing from the horns
reasonably straight. Nevertheless, they provide that appear on the loose folio 15/16 - on page 15,

sufficient information to suggest a correspondence to be precise. It is because of the rubbing on page

with the loose folios 73/74 and 75/76. Page 73 14 that 1 presume to identify page 15 as such. I

still bears the traces of glue characteristic of the have not been able to locate the five folios 7/8,
152 Corresponding
beginning and end of a signature. The traces of 9/10, ii/iz, 17/18, and 21/22. Traces of a
edges SB 6I89/90 and
rubbings on page 76 are not easily accounted for. drawing in blue and black chalk that originally F 992
They seem in part to have derived from the page lay opposite on page 18, appear on page 19.
presently numbered 51. Identification of folio Page 20 contains traces of an even less

75/76 as folio 47/48 or 49/50 is, however, given recognizable drawing in blue chalk, presumably
the numerous marks on pages 46 and 51, not from the original page 21. The "rubbing" of the

12 13 36 37 60 61 84 «5
] 1
14 35 3S 59 62 «3 86

10 15 34 39 5« ''3 82 «7

9 16 33 40 57 ^4 81 88

8 17 32 41 5^» f'5 80 89

7 18 31 42 55 66 79 9"

(i
19 3" 43 54 67 78 91

5 20 29 44 53 68 77 92

4 21 28 45 52 69 7'' 93
3 22 27 4b 51 7" 75 94

2 ^3 2f) 47 5" 71 74 95
25 48 49 72 73

fig. 16 SB 6 I
first signature fig. 17 SB 6 second signature
I
fig. i^ SB 6 third signature
I
fig. 19 SB 6 fourth signature
I

149
 153 Corresponding
edges SB 6I59/60 and
61/62

the drawing on page 15, which also appears on correspond well (154), as do those of folios 55/56
page zo, is perhaps expHcable as a rubbing from and 65/66 (155) and those of folios 57/58 and
the drawing — in which case, made somewhat 63/64 (156).
earher — on page
zi. The Unes under the address Pages 60, 66, and 68 show traces of rubbing
on page zo reappear on page Z3. Finally, on page caused by the cut edge of folio 69/70, mentioned
Z4 we find traces of the gluing from the transition above. Van Gogh accentuated the contours of the
to the second signature. Before moving on to that back and the leg of the plaster model on page 65
signature, however, I will first attempt to with such force that they reappear in relief on

reconstruct the third. page 67 and in impressions on pages 66, 68, and
70. The drawing on page 57 appears only
SB 6|third signature partially on page 58; this can be accounted for by
The third signature of SB 6 is, except for the the fact that only thedrawn segment of page 59
outermost folio 49/50/71/7Z, comprised of the (the seated figure)would have been able to set off
loose double folio 51/5Z/69/70 and eight loose color. As with the drawing on page 65, Van Gogh
folios whose torn edges appear to correspond applied his pencil with such force in the drawing
with each other. The sequence of the folios can be on page 56 that impressions are found even as far
determined by a succession of rubbings and away as in the second signature, on pages 46, 51,
impressions that appear in the folios. That we are and 54.
dealing with the third rather than the second
signature is to be deduced from the fact that, SB 6|SEC0ND SIGNATURE
following the removal of folios 71/7Z, 73/74, and As page 46 of the second signature bears none of
75/76, the cut edge of folio 69/70 (approximately the traces of glue characteristic of a change of
55/8" [14Z mm] from the binding) cdused a signature, it is not likely to have originally been
rubbing on page 77. The double folio 51/5Z/69/ the last page of the second signature. Given the
154 Corresponding
70 shows no traces of glue; it therefore cannot numerous rubbings on pages 46 and 51, we may
edges SB 6J53/54 and
possibly be the outermost double folio 49/50/71/ safely assume that, of the folios 47/48 and 49/50,
67/68
72- at least pages 47 and 50 contained drawings.
When 1 began my research, five of the afore- Thus far have been unable to track these down,
I

mentioned eight loose folios were inserted in an however. I have been able to identify eight folios

arbitrary order in the cover of the book. Of the of the second signature as such. Of these eight,
remaining three folios, 63/64 and 67/68 had been three ft^lios had been inserted in the book's cover.
placed in passe-partouts. These are, respectively, The remaining five were in passe-partouts. Of
the drawing of the so-called Windmills near these five, four appear in de la faille 1970 as

Dordrecht, juv xxix in de la faille 1970, numbers F 1353, F 1354, F 137Z, and f 1395.
where it is wrongly classified among the juvenilia, The fifth (folio i-j/zS), however, was not
and F 1384. happened upon folio 6i/6z in the
I included.
autograph collection of the Rijksmuseum Vincent Of the eight loose folios, three double folios can
van Gogh. This is letter 459, the letter that Van be reconstructed. The torn edges of folio 31/3Z
Gogh wrote to Theo to inform him of his arrival and folio 41/42 (157) fit convincingly well with
in Paris. Folio59/60 still has, albeit now loose, a each other. The torn edges of folios 27/28 and
piece of binding thread in the fold; we know thus 45/46 (158) as well as those of folios 35/36 and
155 Corresponding that this must have been the middle folio of the 37/38 (159) do so considerably less convincingly,
edges SB 6I55/56 and signature. Folio 6i/6z fits nicely to sb 6| 59/60 though there is nothing to indicate that they could
65/66 (153). The torn edges of folios 53/54 and 67/68 not per se have been at one time attached to each

/50
 ;

156 Corresponding
edges SB 6I57/58 and
63/64 /->
"~^
157 Corresponding
edges SB 6I3 1/3Z and
41/42

other. Folios 29/30 and 39/40 do not fit together.

1 presume that they are both lacking their

respective counterparts (folios 43/44 and 33/34) \

in the signature. Folios 35/36 and 37/38 are the

smallest (7V4", 197 mm) and bear traces in light

relief of the binding threads. This seems to me to

be sufficient evidence to describe them as the
middle double folio.

On page 30 we find, among others, an

156
impression of the mill at the far right of page 3 1

presumably this occurred while page 34 — at

present, missing — was drawn. The stripe just

below the lapel of the man portrayed on page 38
is perhaps explicable if we assume that the

missing folio 33/34 was cut from the binding at a

corresponding distance. A white stripe also
appears — though less distinct —
same place
in the

on page 36. Page 40 bears rubbings from the

drawing on page 41 - from the dark passage
between the arm and the body and of the dark
area from hand to head. The lines on page 27
running parallel to the binding of the sketchbook
just to the right of center were presumably caused
during the drawing of page 25. In any case, I have
been unable to come up with any other 158 Corresponding 159 Corresponding
explanation. edges SB 6 27/28 and
1 edges SB 6I35/36 and
45/46 37/38

iji
 2

SKETCHBOOK 6 (SB 6) 164 SB 6|i6 174 SB 6I36

SB 6 comprised of 4 signatures,
is Head of a Man with Hat. City View. Chalk, smudged;
each containing 12 folios, or Z4 Pencil F 1354. JH 963
pages, that are stitched and glued
into the binding. The folios measure SB 6I17/18 175 SB 6|37
4V16X 7V4/77/8" (l ID X 197/200 Missing folio Head of a Man. Chalk;
mm). Of the total of 48 folios, 9 sit F 1372 recto, JH 982
securely in the cover, 28 (plus half 165 SB 6|i9
of folio 89/90) are loose, and 1 1 are Notes or citation. Chalk; 176 SB 6J38
missing at present. Of the 96 pages, rubbing from missing page Head of a Man (Alexander
10 are not visible on account of SB 6|i8 Reidf). Chalk; f 1372 verso,
their being glued to the jackets. JH 983
Eleven pages are blank. Twenty-five 166 SB 6|20
of the 39 pages containing drawings Notes. Chalk; rubbing from 177 SB 6|39
or text are published here for the missing page SB 6|2i Reclining Nude, Seen Frotn
first time. the Back (and notes). Pencil
The preserved folios are located in SB 6I21/22 and chalk
the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Missing folio
Gogh, Amsterdam, where they are 178 SB 6I4O
on permanent loan from the 167 SB 6I23 Rubbing from sb 6I41
Vincent van Gogh Foundation. Rubbing from sb 6|20
The pages containing drawings or 179 SB 6I41
blank pages, if
text, the adjacent 168 SB 6I24 Standing Fetttale Nude.
any, and 2 adjacent pages that, Blank Chalk, smudged; f 1353,
though blank, are nevertheless JH 1016
interesting for the reconstruction SB 6I25/26
are illustrated in their full Missing folio SB 6I4Z
dimensions on pages i 54-21 1. Blank
169 SB 6I27 SB 6I43/44
SB 6|i-5 Matt Draiving or Writitig. Missing folio
Not visible on account of Chalk SB 6I45
gluing Blank
170 SB 6I28
160 SB 6|6 Wiitdtftill. Pencil 180 SB 6I46
Notes. Pencil Various rubbings
171 SB 6I29
SB 6I7-12 The Moulin de Bhtte-Vin. SB 6I47-50
Missing pages Pencil; f 1395, JH 1 188 Missing pages

161 SB 6|i 172 SB 6I30 SB 6|5 1

3
Notes. Chalk Rubbing from sb 6I31 Notes. Chalk; various
rubbings
162 SB 6|i4 173 SB 6 1
3 I

Notes. Pencil; rubbings from Windftiills at Montniartre. 182 SB 6I52

SB 6|i 5 and 19 Pencil Figure Study. Chalk (.')

163 SB 6| I SB 613 183 SB 6|5 3

5
Horned Head. Pencil, Blank Rubbing from sb 6I52
smudged; imprint from SB 6I33/34
SB 6| 16 Missing folio 184 SB 6I54
SB 6|35 Imprint from SB 6I56
Blank

'f2
i85 SB 6I55 197 SB 6|67 207 SB 6|8i
People in a Room. Pencil People Walking in a Park Head of a Man (Alexander
(presumably in the Jardin du Reid?). Chalk; vb iii p. 136,
186 SB 6I56 Luxembourg). Pencil; F 1354a verso, JH 996
Seated Female Nude. Pencil impression (relief) from
SB 6I65; F 1384, JH 1021 208 SB 6|82
187 SB 6|57 Head of a Man (Alexander
Standing Male Nude. Hard 198 SB 6|68 Reid?). Chalk; vb hi p. 137,
pencil Rubbing from SB 6 69/70, 1
F 1354a recto, JH 997
impression from SB 6|65
188 SB 6I58 209 SB 6|83
Notes. Chalk pencil; imprint 199 SB 6|69 Rubbing from SB 6|82;
from SB 6I57 Notes. Chalk; a strip circa impression from SB 6I84
2V16" (58 mm) wide missing
189 SB 6I59 at the right 210 SB 6|84
Seated Female Nude (and Plaster of Male Nude. Pencil
notes). Chalk pencil and 200 SB 6I7O and chalk
pencil Impression from SB 6I65; a
strip circa z^Uc" (58 mm) 211 SB 6|85
190 SB G\6o wide missing at the left Blank
Rubbing from SB 6I69/70;
imprint from SB 6I59 SB 6I71/72 212 SB 6|86
Folio missing Notes. Pencil; rubbing from
191 SB 6j6i SB 6I87/88 and 91 (jacket)
Letter 459 from Vincent to 201 SB 6|73
Theo. Chalk; VB and cl Blank 213 SB 6|87
Flowers. Pencil; a strip circa
192 SB 6|62 202 SB 6|74 Vk" (47 mm) wide missing at
Theo van Gogh's laundry list Le du Luxembourg
Palais the right; F 1354a recto
of March 6, 1886. Pencil Seen from the Garden.
Pencil; F 1385, jH 1030 214 SB 6|88
193 SB 6|63 Female Heads (and notes).
Windmills at Montmartre. 203 SB 6|75 (?) Pencil and chalk; a strip circa
Pencil; VB i p. 103, f juv Pelvis of a Skeleton. Pencil I W (47 mm) wide missing at
XXIX the left; F 1354a verso
204 SB 6I76 (?)
194 SB 6|64 Undistinguishable rubbing 215 SB 6|89
Traces of ink from SB 5I51 Blank. The righthand side is

F 992 verso
195 SB 6|65 205 SB 6I77
Plaster of Female Nude. Skeletons on Horseback, 216 SB 6J90
Pencil, smudged Windmills. Hard pencil; People Walking. Pencil and
rubbing from SB 6 [69/70 chalk; the lefthand side is

196 SB 6|66 F 99Z, JH 1029

Rubbing from SB 6 69/70, 1
SB 6I78-79
impression from SB 6|65 Blank 217 SB 6I91
Inventory label
206 SB 6l8o
Rubbing from SB 6|8i, SB 6I92— 96
impression from SB 6 [84 Not visible on account of
gluing

^53
 i6o SB 6 6

ff"
f--

%.-*•
/

•rü ?»- .-."^ ^"-^i/ ^ ' .. .•^:^4- . .*C _ -

'
'•'
•• ' ;
'^'
- *^. :
*"'
.Vir

" j'
ir , "•
ï J*.

^J4
 i6i Sb6|i3

- » e
'^ ^
«
ff

.-/ ^\^ 1
:» -^
X; :
'•
:.

T
*«-Vi'*^
"
^ ^
~ .
" ..

j.
/ -jL'
^
.•» •
* -~
- •«
*,

^ v-. ^^ .r ., f
- i ^:

ȣ
. .

-*»- * -fl WIM »<

J55
 W

l62 SB 6] 14

II i
i BW—
H J..>l|l«IW

2:
4s.
>

.V-
<
-T*.''

\
't

;,

•A

^..

rT6
 5

163 SB 6| 1

"^

.^

'im^:^-

157
164 SB 6|i6

-"*».3.

1^8
 165 SB 6| 19

-
f -. f.
l
W^:-!^

,..*,

?:
«1

IS9
i66 SB 6 20

J
4^

ĥ
>^'
.^

"-^l* '*'.

•f».

^.-..-

•¥-

;^>o
 167 SB 6|z^

161
i68 sb6|z4

"^1^

r6z
169 SB öjzy

163
lyo SB 6|2.8

164
lyi SB 6|29

165
 i7i SB 6130

<

..^:

w.
'
c i

j66
173 ^^ 6|3 I

167
 1 74 S B 6 36
1

7-^

V.^

i68
 175 sb6|37

J
/'

i6g
 176 SB 6|3i

w^m mtmmmm

lyo
 177 ^B 6139

">

tt
^

/r-:^':.^

. '<*j.-^^t^^^^

IJl
 178 SB 6I4O

•;.4<^'

~i>

iimi III <i- J

172
179 ^^ ^U'

-f73
 i8o SB 6146

*- -_
.*^

^. %^
^.l»

^'m-

L.": y

V4
i8i sb6|5[

175
 '

i8z SB 6\sz

unjWJUu'u Mw
i i . i'ii '
im wwKJjJ ' Bn i n ' imw 'lywWW
'
.
. ' "

1'

V6
 183 SB 6|53

.Tl

^'

177
184 SB 6I54

! ' I
ll
I
I

I > II l"li|Mi»|'. I I
H IIII I
i| I
.11 nil

-^

,7s
185 SB 6|5 5

^79
 i86 SB6I56

V
^

180
 187 SB6I57

.?-.^

\__
( f
/ "^
-i'

\
unr\ 'J/mtA.-,

j8i
 i88 sb6|s!

r
i_ c

3
3' .

r C f"
€«*=^'-

— •> -^
,>^^-
*«»^
-i!«*i' '~^.,

/
v«^ A
,-* V
\.

c
^n

i8i
 189 SB 6I59

f
i

, -Jï—y.'

•4S-.

^.

I ~

r ir/-

IS3
 190 SB 6|6o

a^- ' '-v-:-f«'s*e':^~

*i.

M^H^tJg^^jyiMIMte J

7^4
 191 SB (>\(i I

»it**v«^

--^ v»3-ïX *^ /» -|n^ >i»*3/vTi4^ O «Joel ^11 d A vvsi >Avav\ ^OT-fO'-^SMD vx^i-
"%'

i8s
 192 SB 6|6z

-A

V. .. i:

186
 193 sb6|63

i:yiA-,
f.-.-vj»<uK,(MiaM .rfif II itim r. ^'-ifftisai,
'

187

\}
194 SB 6|64

/i
p

*N^
\
>«,

Ï
K

•i.

>*::'

^'

««^

7^^
195 sb6|65

189

H
 196 SB 6|66

' —
i|' I
J ., I

S»

190
197 SB 6167

/ 'i

191
 198 sb6|68

- M^iiW.iW^^ '_
^
r^-

"x
^^r^
-^ 1

i.

.% '
V
^*

r
^

r./j&tri66i

'9^
 199 ^B 6|69

^s:^-

f <

f}
>^

^93
 200 SB 6|70

éü

r.

'94
 201 SB 6173

-»-»• f

'(

'i

.M

195
 202 SB 6|74

^
0s

'^'U

ƒ96
 203 SB6|75 (?)

^'^SBïr-

r-?

'lïi^

197
 204 SB 6I76 (?)

,*" '-"W
r"™

-\ » k.

>i

^<^'

V»

-^\ ^.-^

ICjH
 205 SB6|77

<.

t
-.-.aais««A^„,^_^

A ''

iMK-hVitrti'tfi^'^-f - i'-rruw II

J^99
 2o6 SB 6 80

^^

*
**'^.--:'"^

<b.-
-.•'..ïj- •*.;
..!'>.-v,k:~v."

yT- K-
**>*•

-V'
./>,-

?iy^'
"'> --.•V-i .•

200
207 sb6|8i

"^

20I
2o8 SB 682.

Jia.illllillil MLJPUMlII W k^iLt

' i

202
 209 SB 6|83

\
t

.-?'

••*«v

V-i

^i£^. ^
??

203

» «
2IO SB 6|84

.-^\v

ZO4
 211 sb6|85

r ^ . -w' .
i

iiwMi.!jpmK-. ' -a -tWiS»' '

' «I 'M » '" 'l.»iW '

205
 ai2 SB 6|86

\ j

n / . \^

U
i..'1a!^
, tT^ l^^ i
W...

206
 213 sb6|87

i 4- f

zoy
214 SB 6|8!

. \ ^'

X
/
/
n vS^^ 7*

,«,S)>N«" ^ -

^
•*^ ^

i^

zo8
 215 sb6|89

. .^HBlIi^ Jt'!!!H|^'.i..vf C" m.'- -ik- L!!Ji"<J!iiJ»4|Ji!'WW.'" UJ" "w

«f?
•^J'rs^

W'^' ^
rvi

••si

Il X Vk *.-%»^
>:^;.,.^^^„.^^..^.;.V.„^ . -

-i»^>. ^^msf—*-Mtit. .sssr: -

ZO^
2l6 SB 6I9O

F ../:%a:
.'
t^^'.^
^j.^
.\'
:A^f... ^
r*..

vr'

1 10
 217 SB 6|9i

—>B »w r' mil .^ «I a iT-irlMm-ïïlinnT^III .

I ,
J

RIJKSMUSEUM VINCENT VAN GOGH

INV.NR
c|4l3V/l^^:3

't

>'»•'

li I
Élij1gW»>W*^*M

2JJ

r
Sketchbook 7; Auvers-sur-Oise

SIZE
Sketchbook 7 (sb 7, 226—271) has a hnen jacket
(218) and, hke SB i, a storage compartment in the

back. This compartment, however, is not empty.

It contains the visiting card of E. Walpole Brooke
(219).
Not much more is known about the EngHsh/
AustraHan Walpole Brooke than what Van Gogh
reported to Theo in letter 646. Together and on
various occasions they set out on painters' walks
together in Auvers-sur-Oise. Walpole Brooke was
himself a painter and had spent time in Japan.
Van Gogh was avidly interested in Japanese art,
and he would have undoubtedly pumped Walpole
Brooke on the subject of his Japanese experiences.
Van Gogh told Theo to expect a visit from his
new acquaintance, who would come to see
Vincent's paintings, which Theo held or had
stored in Paris, and probably to show some of his
own work as well. In letter T 40, Theo talks of
the day of Walpole Brooke's anticipated visit.

Theo describes how he would like the visit to go,

and invites Vincent to come to Paris for the day.
The paper of SB 7 is blue-lined graph paper and
has "red along the cut edge." It was not cut
squarely by the binder: it runs out to the right
toward the top (31). This is a great help to the
reconstruction in that we can at least determine
what must have been the reverse of a given loose
folio. The height in the back and along the cut

edge is 5V16" (1 34 mm). The width of an inner

folio is v'/>*" (85 mm) along the top edge and,
along the bottom, 3 Vs" (84 mm). The outermost
folio of a signature is a fraction, Vis" mm), ( i

wider (3VK" and slightly less respectively, 86 and

85 mm). To all appearances, the original si/x of a
signature was sixteen folios, or thirty-two pages.
None of the five signatures still in the sketchbook,
however, is fully intact. As for sb 1,2, and 6, the

structural format of the signatures is

diagrammatically described; sec figs. 20-24.

ZTZ
 219 Visiring card of E.
Walpole Brooke

^. "^^Walpole Brooke
FOUR DUETS
The signatures are stitched and glued into the
binding. As a result of the gluing, the last page of
#r6.^
-^.
a signature and the first page of the signature
following are also affixed to each other, a detail L
that will play a decisive role in the reconstruction.
The transitional folios between consecutive light markings in relief on folio 59/60. With the
signatures have in the course of time come loose exception of folio 35/36, the counterpart to folio
as four "duets." Thanks to the pattern on the 61/62, the remaining pages of the second
paper, however, they can be restored with signature (37-60) either exist in place or can
certainty to their original locations.
question are: 31/32/33/34, 63/64/65/66, 95/96/97
The duets in easily be restored to their original locations (33/34

and 63/64). The Paris drawing f 1617 can be

/
/98, and 127/1 28/1 Z9/1 30. The pattern of 34 35/36 because its torn edge
identified as folio

corresponds well with that of 63; that of 66 with corresponds so well with that of folio 61/62.
that of 95, and that of 98 with that of 127. (220); the second signature is hereby likewise
rendered complete.
SB 7 SECOND SIGNATURE
1

The original signature size is most easily SB 7 FIRST SIGNATURE

1

determined on the basis of the second signature. The above-mentioned F 1 617 is one of the four
When I began my research, the upper half of folio loose folios of SB 7 not found in the collection of

61/62 — which has in the meantime come the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh; it is located

completely loose — was still folded over folio 59/ in the Cabinet des Dessins of the Musée National
60. A rather more defensible argument for du Louvre in Paris. They were originally in the

identifying folio 59/60 as such is based on the fact collection of the son of Dr. Paul Gachet in
220 Corresponding
that Van Gogh drew parts of the figures on page Auvers-sur-Oise. Gachet, Jr., presented a similar
edges SB 7I35/36 and
62 with such force that they recur in the form of folio (f 1654) as a gift to Ed. Buckmann (de 61/62

16 17 48 49 80 81 112 j
1 13 144 145

IS 5" 79 82 111 1 14 143 146

15 47 '

14 19 4'' 51 78 83 110 1 15 142 147

20 52 84 loy lift 141 148

13 45 77

12 21 44 53 7ft 85 io8 1
17 140 149

22 Hft 107 118 '39 150

1 1
43 54 75

10 87 loft ly 138 151

23 42 55 74 1

24 4" 56 88 105 120 137 152

9 73

8 25 40 72 89 104 121 136 153

57 j

7 2ft 39 58 71 yo 103 1 22 135 54

6 27 38 59 7<J 91 102 123 134 155

28 60 69 92 iiji 124 133 156

5 37

4 ^9 3ft 61 68 93 100 1 125 132 157

3" 62 67 94 99 126 131 .58

3 35

2 3' 34 63 6ft 95 98 127 130 '59

32 64 65 96 97 128 I2y ifto

33

fig. zo SB 7 1
first signature fig. II SB 7 second signature
I
fig. 12 SB 7 third signature
I
fig. Z3 SB 7 fourth signature
I
fig. 14 .SB 7 I
fifth signature

273
 221 Corresponding edges SB 7I9/
10 and 23/24

SABLONiERF. 1955) in 1952. In 1975 it was because it bears markings in relief of the sun-
acquired by the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh flower so emphatically drawn at the center of
in Amsterdam; it can now, after all of its page 91. An oblique line from the drawing on
wanderings, actually be restored to SB 7. It page 71 continues just left of center at the bottom
apparently belonged — as folio 1 1/12 — to the first of page 70 just enough to render page 71
signature. In fact, the drawing on page 11 identifiable as such. Page 90 of folio 89/90, the

continues, albeit in the form of merely two lines — counterpart to folio 71/72, also turns out well,
forming part of the man at the bar on the left and with its vase of fourteen sunflowers beside the
of the molding of the bar itself — onto page 10 of vase of twelve on the fixed page 91. Pages 74 and
the folio, also loose, 9/10. The drawing on page 9 75 have a few stains in common, making it

could hardly belong elsewhere than next to that of possible to identify the folio 73/74, blank on both
page 8. The torn edges of the loose folios 9/10 sides. I have not been able to find its counterpart,
and 2.3/Z4 (the Paris folio F 1616) correspond folio 87/88. Excepting the latter folio, the third

nicely with each other (221). Those of the loose signature is complete.
folios 11/12 and zi/zz do so significantly less,

though still convincingly enough (222). A SB 7|fourth signature

stain occurs on both pages 20 and 21 in a Regarding the fourth signature, six double folios

corresponding location, while a rubbing from the exist neatly in place. We have already dealt with
drawing on page zi appears on page 20. The top the seventh (and outermost) double folio
L.
of the drawing on page 22 97/98/127/128. The only question remaining,
\ 's2S of the tree at the
runs slightly onto the Paris page 23.
left

The which is difficult to answer definitively, is where

/ following pages of the first signature are still in the eighth double folio was originally situated and
their original locations: 3/4/29/30, 5/6/27/28, whether it has been preserved in its entirety or
7/8/25/26, 1 3/1 4/1 9/20, and 1 5/1 6/1 7/1 8. On only in part. Taking into consideration the run-
account of their being glued to the jacket and to ons, rubbings, and corresponding stains of the

the fly-leaf, pages 1-3 are not visible. Folio 31/32 other pages, 10^/104/121/122 remains the only
has already been identified as such - and thus as a double folio likely to be missing. There are,
part of the duet that it forms with 33/34; we may however, no loose folios on hand that are likely

thus ascertain that the first signature also has been candidates for either folio 103/104 or 121/122. It

222 Corresponding preserved in its entirety. seems likely that the line at the upper right of
edges SB 7I1 1/12 and page 123 is a run-on not from the drawing on
21/22 SB 7|third signature page 120, but instead from page 122, which is

We observed earlier that the outermost folios of missing at present. In this case, the continuation
the third signature 65/66and 95/96 were on page 1 20 would be a rubbing from the line on
"supplied" by the duets. Four double folios are page 123. The bits of graphite in the binding, here

still firmly in place: 69/70/91/92, 75/76/85/86, as well as between pages 102 and 105, strongly
77/78/83/84, and 79/80/81/82. Two additional suggest that the two missing folios contained
double folios can be assembled from drawings. The drawing on page io6 has caused a
corresponding loose folios. The torn edge of folio light marking in relief on page 102, and that of
67/68 (the Paris folio k 1644) fits very well with page 120 on page 1 18. Must we then assume that

that of folio 93/94 (2.23). Likewise, the torn edge folio103/104 was already missing at the time that
of folio 71/72 fits with that of folio 89/90 (224). page 106 was being drawn upon? This we will
Rubbings from the drawing on page 66 appear only be able to answer if the folio turns up again.
on page 67. Folio 93/94 is identifiable as such

2T4
SB 7 FIFTH SIGNATURE
1

Following the replacement of folio IZ9/130,

established on the basis of the duet that it forms
with folio 127/128, two double folios are still

missing from the fifth signature: 13 7/1 3 8/1 51/15 2

and 139/140/149/150. On account of their being
glued to the jacket and the fly-leaf, pages 158—160
are not visible. Five double folios of the fifth

^
signature are still in place: 131/132/157/158,
133/134/155/156, 135/136/153/154, 141/142/147
/148, and 143/144/145/146. Three loose folios are
identifiable as belonging to the two missing
double The torn edges of folio 137/138
folios.

(the Paris folio F 1622) and 1 51/15 2 fit together •'m.

nicely (225). They are identifiable as such because

pages 136 and 137, 150 and 151, and 152 and 'I \
I
/^
153 have similar rubbing markings. Furthermore,
the latter two pages bear corresponding oxidation 223 Corresponding 224 Corresponding
marks. Also, page 149 of the third loose folio, edges SB 7I67/68 and edges SB 7I71/72 and
93/94 89/90
149/150, bears a rubbing from the left hind leg of
the horse on page 147. The missing folio 139/140
must have been removed from the book early on
by Van Gogh himself. That is, I cannot imagine
that the drawings on pages 138 and 141 could be
considered other than as two parts of a single
composition. The lines along the long cut edge of
page 157 are a continuation of the drawing on
page 155. Apparently they were caused by folio
155/156 being shifted about Vs" (2 mm) while
Van Gogh was drawing.

225 Corresponding
edges SB 7I 13 7/1 38 and
151/152

^15
SKETCHBOOK 7 (SB 7) SB7I1-3 233 SB 7I18
SB 7 is comprised of 5 signatures, Not visible on account of Bargue No. i. Pencil
each containing 16 folios, or ?2 gluing SB 7I19
pages of paper bearing the Bargue No. j. Pent
checkered pattern of graph paper, 226 SB 7I4
stitched and glued into a Mnen Blank 234 SB 7J20
jacket. The fohos measure SB 7I5 Standing Girl. Pencil
s/ié"x 35/,6"/3Vs" (134 X 84/86 mm). Women Picking Olives. SB 7J2I
Of the total of 80 folios, 54 sit Pencil; SD 1729, JH 1867 Mother and Child.
securely between the covers, iz are Dressmaker's chalk
loose, and 4 are missing at present. 227 SB 7|6
Of the 160 pages, 6 are not visible Two Strollers in a Ravine. 235 SB 7|22
on account of their being glued to Pencil; SB 7I7 The Town Hall of Auvers-
the covers and to the storage Head of a Dog. Pencil sur-Oise, Carriage with Two
compartment. Sixty-two pages are Horses in the Foreground.
blank. Of the 84 pages containing 228 SB 7J8 Chalk pencil
drawings, 74 are published here for Landscape with a Tree, SB 7I23
the first time. Pencil; rubbing
from sb 7I9 Man, Woman, and Child
The preserved folios are located in SB 7I9 Walking. Chalk pencil;
the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Landscape with a Tree. F 1 61 6, JH Z077. Collection
Gogh, Amsterdam, on permanent Pencil Musée National du Louvre,
loan from the Vincent van Gogh Cabinet des Dessins, Paris
Foundation, with the exception of 229 SB 7I10
SB 7I11/1Z, which belongs to the Hen. Pencil; sd 1731, 236 SB 7I24
national collection of the JH 2068 Rubbing from SB 7I25.
Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, SB 7|l I Collection Musée National
and the 4 folios SB 7I23/Z4, 35/36, In the Café. Pencil; k 1654 du Louvre, Cabinet des
67/68, and 137/138, which are recto, |H 2069. Collection Dessins, Paris
located in the Cabinet des Dessins Rijksmuseum Vincent van SB 7I25
of the Musée National du Louvre, Gogh, Amsterdam Standing Man, Seen from the
Paris. Back. Chalk pencil
The pages contaming drawings 230 SB 7I12
and the adjacent blank pages, if Poultry. Pencil; F 1654 SB 7I26— 27
any, are illustrated in their full verso,JH 2070. Collection Blank
dimensions on pages 219—64. Rijksmuseum Vincent van
Gogh, Amsterdam 237 SB 7|z8
SB 7I13 Rubbing from SB 7I29
Man Digging (and notes). SB 7I29
Pencil Woman Working in the
Fields. Chalk (pencil?)
231 SB 7I 14
Bargue No. 2. Pencil 238 SB 7I3O
SB 7I15 Woman Working in the

Bargue No. 1. Pencil Fields. C^halk pencil (and

pencil?)
232 SB 7I 16 SB 7I31
Bargue No. 4. Pencil Horse and Cart. Pencil;
SB 7I17 so i7?o, JH 2062
Bargue No. 4. Pencil
SB 7|3i-n
Blank

216
239 SB 7|34 SB 7I69 251 SB 7I98
Blank Mother and Child and Cows The Town Hall of Auvers-
SB 7I35 in the Fields (and notes). sur-Oise, Three Figures
Mother and Child. Chalk; Pencil and chalk Walking in the Foreground.
F 1617,JH 2076. Collection Pencil
Musée National du Louvre, 244 SB 7I7O SB 7I99
Cabinet des Dessins, Paris Horse (Hind Legs). Pencil Rider on Horseback with an
SB 7I71 Escort of Four Men, in a
SB 7I36 City View with a Bridge. Landscape (?). Chalk pencil
Blank. Collection Musée Chalk
National du SB 7I1OO— lOZ
Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, MS SB 7I72 Blank
Paris Head of a Man. Chalk SB 7I I 03/104

SB 7I37-59 SB 7I73 Missing folio

Blank Blank SB 7I105
Blank
240 SB 7I60 SB 7I74-85
Head of a Man. Chalk Blank 252 SB 7I106
SB 7|6i Sailboat. Pencil; rubbing
Daubigny's Garden. Pencil 246 SB 7|86 from SB 7I107
Woman Walking. Chalk SB 7I107
241 SB 7I62 SB 7I87/88 Farmer Plowing with Two
Two Figures Walking. Pencil; Missing folio Horses. Chalk pencil
impression from SB 7] 61 SB 7I89
SB 7I63 Head, Seen Obliquely from 253 SB7I108
Woman Walking, Seen from Behmd. Chalk pencil Man with Shovel. Chalk
the Back. Pencil pencil

247 SB 7I90 SB 7I109

SB 7I64— 65 Vase with Fourteen Contours of a Figure. Chalk
Blank Sunflowers. Pencil and rubbing from sb 7I108
SB 7I91
242 SB j\66 Vase with Twelve 254 SB7I110
Two Standing Women, Sunflowers. Pencil Three Fish. Chalk pencil and
Draivn over Each Other. rubbing from SB 7I111
Chalk pencil and pencil 248 SB 7J92 SB 7I111
SB 7J67 Vase with Irises. Pencil Woman on Bicycle. Chalk
Woman Walking, Seen from SB 7I93 pencil and rubbing from
the Back. Pencil; impression Man Mowing. Chalk pencil SB 7I1 10
from SB 7|68; F 1644 verso,
JH Z066. Collection Musée 249 SB 7I94 255 SB 7I1 12
National du Louvre, Cabinet Standing Woman (and Standing Figure, Seen from
des Dessins, Paris notes). Chalk pencil the Back. Chalk pencil
SB 7I95 SB 7I113
243 SB 7|68 Blank Hand. Chalk pencil
Woman Walking. Pencil;
F 1644 recto, JH 2065. 250 SB 7I96 SB 7I114- 119
Collection Musée National Woman Walking. Blank
du Louvre, Cabinet des Dressmaker's chalk (?)
Dessins, Paris SB 7I97
Woman Walking, Seen from
the Back. Dressmaker's
chalk (?)

Z17
257 SB 7I1Z4 263 SB 7I138 270 SB7]i54
Man with Oat-Bag (?). Chalk Hind Legs of a Horse. Pencil; Woman ivith a Donkey.
pencil F 1622 recto, JH 2061. Pencil
SB 7I1Z5 Collection Musée National SB 7I155
Horse and Cart. Chalk pencil du Louvre, Cabinet des Ttvo Women in the Fields.
Dessins, Paris Pencil
258 SB 7I126 SB 7I I 39/140

Train Cars (and notes). Missing folio 271 SB 7I156

Chalk pencil SB 7I14I Two Horses (?). Pencil
SB 7I127 Forelegs of a Horse. Pencil; SB 7I157
Part of a Figure in Profile. rubbing from SB 7I136 Figure. Pencil; continuation
Chalk pencil and rubbing of SB 7I155
from SB 7I126 264 SB 7I142
Les Alyscamps, Aries. Pencil SB 7I I 58—160
SB 7I128-IZ9 SB 7I143 Not visible on account of
Blank Standing Woman. Pencil gluing

259 SB 7I130-131 265 SB 7|i44— 145

Figures on a Bridge (?). Two Horses. Pencil
Pencil
266 SB 7I146
260 SB 7|l32 Horse. Pencil; rubbing from
Head and Face. Chalk pencil SB 7I147
SB 7I133 SB 7I147
Rubbing from SB 7I132 Horse. Pencil; rubbing from
SB 7I146
261 SB 7I134
Woman, Seen Obliquely 267 SB 7I148
from the Back. Chalk pencil Standing Woman and Head.
SB 7I135 Pencil and chalk pencil
Head of a Woman tn Profile. SB 7I149
Chalk pencil; rubbing from Horse and Cart. Pencil;
SB 7I134 impression from sb 7J147

262 SB 71 136 268 SB 7I15O

Landscape at the Oise. Chalk Horse. Pencil; rubbing from
pencil; rubbing from SB 7I151
SB 7I137 SB 7I15I
SB 7I137 Horse. Pencil; rubbing from
Head of a Woman. Chalk SB 7I150
pencil; rubbing from
SB 7I136; F 1622 verso, 269 SB 7I152
JH 2075. Collection Musée Horse. Pencil; rubbing from
National du Louvre, Cabinet SB 7|i53
des Dessins, Paris SB 7I153
Horse. Pencil; rubbing from
SB 7 1 I 5 2

218
226 SB 7I4-5

219
227 SB 7I6-7

220
228 SB 718-9

221

mH^^^
229 SB 7|lO-I I

«JMRMMMMn

222
230 SB 7| 1Z-13

223

^mm
231 SB7I14-15

224
 232 SB 71 16-17

wé

2-2.S

mmm
 233 SB yl I 8-1 9

r--^'

zi6
 234 SB 7|20-2 1

/
I

'i

227

MHaa
 ^35 SB7|zz-Z3

'é

,^-- vSüs.'

Z28
238 SB 7I3O-3 I

231
239 SB 7134-35

^•

I
P
'1

2^1
240 SB7|6o-6i

^33
241 SB 7I62-63

N /^

234
 242 SB 7I66-67

p-/7 .!„

135
 243 SB 7I68-69

<^

236
244 SB7I70-71

^37
245 SB7I72--73

.-^xS*- - .'W.^-^;r^-.,-

^\.y

2?S
246 SB7I86-89

239
247 SB7l90-9i

240
248 SB 7I92-93

Z4I
 249 ^B7|94-95

'Y

141
 250 SB 7196-97

-\

.#/

M3

L
251 SB7I98-99

C<

244
252 SB 7I 106- 107

2-45
253 SB 7I108-109

-4
c\

>^^^
r-^s

V ^

246
254 SB 7! I 10- 1 I 1

M7
255 SB 7| I 1 2.-I I
3

'%

-iï»i-^..v'
^

y^.

I .

I I

Z48
 256 SB 71 I ZO- I 13

'•>-i..^

4a

b^

249
257 SB7|i2-4-i2-5

1^0
 258 SB 7I 1 16-1 zy

f;

I
'-

If ""
P N
> \
\

251
259 SB 7| 1 30-13 I

/""

2J2
26o SB 7I13Z-1 33

2-S3
26i SB7I134-135

254
264 SB yl I 42-- '43

257
265 !>B7|i44-i45

2^8
266 SB 7 146-147

2J9
267 SB 71 I48-I4C

iGo
268 SB7|i50"'5i

261
269 SB 7I15Z-153

z6z
270 SB7I154-155

263
271 SB7I156-I57

« «I» I 1 11

264
CHAPTER 4

A Panorama of Questions

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE 272 SB 1I5O-5I

Naturally, the drawing and texts in the
sketchbooks SB 1—7 do not stand alone; they
belong to the much more extensive oeuvre of Van
Gogh. Leafing through the sketchbooks,
numerous connections with the other long- and
well-known works of Van Gogh immediately
spring to mind. But there are also less explicit
connections, to be found only after much looking.
The question of how a given sketchbook drawing
is related to other drawings or paintings arises
time and again: is it an initial and cursory
notation, a detailed preparatory study, a self-

standing drawing? Is it a "transcription" - a copy

of, for example, a recently completed painting?
Or a sketch made from memory after a much
earlier work, or a recollection of an image?
The "panorama of questions," at least as I aim
to sketch it, leads us down five roads, beginning at now that they have been published, the
the beach at Scheveningen, via the parsonage sketchbooks will give new momentum to
garden in Nuenen, and Les Alyscamps in Aries, to individual experiences of the paintings and
Daubigny's garden in Auvers-sur-Oise: along the drawings of Van Gogh and to scholarly analysis
"road" of technical capability, following the path of their significance and interrelationships alike.
of the human face, along the path of labor,
literally down the road to the south and, for a ALONG THE "ROAD" OF TECHNICAL
while, back to the north, and, finally, along the CAPABILITY
sweet path of memories. We Nuenen sketchbook (sB i) a total
find in the

It is my hope that this chapter may stimulate the of six drawings in which Van Gogh committed his
reader to leaf through the sketchbooks — as ideas about the construction of a perspective
reconstructed and illustrated in the previous frame to paper: SB 1I39, 50-51, 163-165. Of the
chapter - time and again and thus to make his six,SB 1 50— 51 (272) best explains to what end
1

own discoveries as well. There remain a number Van Gogh wished to use such a window: to
of questions waiting to be answered. The acquire a sense of spatial proportion. If we
sketchbooks offer something for everyone, as compare the six sketchbook drawings with each
much for "amateurs d'art" — admirers and other we Van Gogh was designing a stand
see that
devotees of Van Gogh and his work - as for the to support the window so that its height above
dyed-in-the-wool specialists. I am certain that the ground could be adjusted. Thanks to

i6j
 274 Sketchbook page
with, among other
images, a perspective
frame and a stand
(f 1637 verso)
'/'

273 Sketch in letter zzz

f..^,, 1.-,. -^„_A_ _

•»'A«.jt-'V> ^ „^... k.aV^ 7 > "^^ (9-Wu«,^

^V* ^""^"^ £«X.A.A^ !<«/ -CJ
tïÈi-^

KERSSEMAKERS 1912 we know Van Gogh

that by eye, so that I can paint them later on a
did in fact have a perspective frame made to his somewhat larger scale. And that is why I am
specifications in Nuenen; was constructed from
it having a new and, hope, better
1 perspective frame
an iron bar with a pointed end on which he could, made, which can be fixed in uneven ground in the

at the desired height, fasten the window with dunes by two poles, in this way, for instance." He
screws. then sketched (273) how he imagined he would be
In 1882 Van Gogh wrote to Theo (letter 205) able to use the new perspective frame on the
that he had had to make certain expenditures to beach at Scheveningen.
further his study of perspective and proportion, in Van Gogh made regular use of the perspective
particular for an instrument with which it was frame when in France and continued, even in
possible to compare the sizes of objects close at Auvers-sur-Oise, to puzzle over how its

hand and of objects in a plane further removed. construction could be further improved. Thus we
Van Gogh expected to profit most from it in those find in the drawings f 161 1 verso and f 1637
instances where perspective cannot be determined verso (274) more new designs for a perspective
according to the rules. After several attempts, and frame. The F 1541/161 1 double folio seems to
with the help of a carpenter and a blacksmith, belong to a cover which, along with two drawings
Van Gogh finally arrived at a workable design; and a sketch of what I take to be the lines in a
he, however, was still not entirely satisfied. Some perspective frame (275), has been preserved.
letters later (letter 222), following Theo's visit to Either these are the threads themselves or, if not,
his brother in The Hague, Vincent wrote to him: then they must be the compositional lines derived
"1 will begin with little things. But this summer I from them. A similar linear pattern also occurs in
hope to practice making large sketches in charcoal the loose window of f 1637 verso.

166
 In this context, wylie 1970 brought attention to 275 The pattern of lines in a

Van Gogh's famiharity with the pubhcations oi perspective frame

Armand Cassagne. Cassagne considered the

perspective frame more than a simple means of
squaring the subject off by isolating it - more
than a "cadre isolateur." He saw it primarily as a
"cadre rectificateur" - a means of transferring the
proportions within an image correctly onto paper.
He demanded of his pupils that they begin by
plotting out the linear pattern of the perspective
frame on their paper before actually commencing
with their drawings.
SB 1I96 from Van Gogh's Nuenen period — a
page of which the lower half has, for inexplicable
reasons, been trimmed away — is also related to a
publication of Cassagne, Le Dessin pour tous.
The drawing complements nicely the references
WYLiE 1970 makes to Van Gogh's expression of
interest in the "division of the oval of the head"
(letter 394). The drawing in question allows us to
see how Van Gogh wished to hold the "volume"
of a head "in his fingertips," and ultimately to
reduce three dimensions to two. watermark "Dambricourt Frères"; the paper of
To exercise his manual facility and his feeling for the double folio has both. It seems likely that the

anatomical proportions. Van Gogh was more or two single folios originally formed a double folio,
less addicted to two publications by Charles whereby the righthand side of F 1508 recto was
Bargue: the Cours de dessin and the Exercices au attached to the left side of F 1609 verso. Because
fusain pour preparer a Vétude de Vacadémie the edges of f 1609 were partially trimmed some
d'après nature. In the first he found reproductions time later, it is no longer possible to match the
of old master works by, among others, Holbein, original torn edges with each other. On account
which he then copied. From his letters we know of the adhesive tape that was used for the
that he copied the complete sheets of the framing, the image on the verso side is partly
Exercices au fusain several times over. Up until obscured. The drawing on f 1508 recto deviates
Auvers-sur-Oise he repeatedly mentioned them. from the other copies after Bargue in the sense
As late as letter 638, Vincent urgently requests that Van Gogh presents the seated man in

thatTheo lend him a copy of "the Bargue." imaginary clothing and places him in a real chair.

Oddly enough, no more than a few of such The paper of all three folios bears marks from the
drawings have been preserved, however. paper mold used. Insofar as I am able to
In fact, we are familiar only with F 1508 recto determine. Van Gogh used this particular paper
(276), F 1609 verso (277), and a double folio above all m Auvers-sur-Oise - for, among other
(278) which was not included in the de la drawings, F 1636 (Hallines) and f 1638 (Hallines
FAILLE 1970 catalogue raisonné, but appeared in and Dambricourt Frères), only one side of which
VAN CRiMPEN 1974. The paper of F 1508 bears has been drawn on, contrary to what is said in de

the watermark "Hallines" and that of F 1609 the LA faille 1970. When in The Hague, Van Gogh

Z67
 '

/ A
276 Copies After 277 Copy After 278 Copies After
Bargue Nos. i and 2 Bargue No. i Bargue Nos. i and 5,
(f 1508 recto) (f 1609 verso) double page

often used paper with the same watermarks, but

thiswas watercolor paper. propose that the four
I

<< copies after Bargue Hsted here all be dated, on

K^.
grounds of the type of paper used, to Auvers-sur-
Oise.
To these four folios six more from SB 7 can be
added at once. These are pages SB 7I14— 19,
copies after nos. 2, 2, 4, 4, i, and 5, respectively,

from Bargue (279—282). We find the combination

of and 5 again in the double folio preserved as
I

such. Bargue no. 2 is drawn over Bargue no. i on

280 Bargue No. z F 1508 recto.

The absence of early copies made after Bargue's

Exercices au fusain can perhaps be explained by
Van Gogh himself having looked on them as mere
.:ui exercises unworthy of being From Auvers-
kept.
sur-Oise, Van Gogh informed Theo (letter 517)
that he was planning to keep the copies he would
make there for good. This also may be taken as
evidence of his not having preserved the previous
copies. Of the early copies made after the Cours
de dessin, a few do remain (f 847, F 848, and f
833)-
Van Gogh was extremely keen on mastering
281 Bargue No. 4 282 Bargue No. 5
drawing techniques. One of the tried-and-true
methods for developing such skills is drawing
"after antiquities," drawing after plaster copies of

classical statues. He also produced a series of

26S
 283 Plaster Statuette (f 216;
Private collection, Japan)

284 model
Plaster statuette, for
the painting f 216 (283)

paintings after such sculpture. The most finished impression. Or did one of Vincent's drawing
and at the same time largest of these is f 216 models assume the pose of the discus thrower?
(283); a copy of the plaster model (284) is in the The figure of SB 2] 12 (287), obscured in the

Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh. Various course of time, more easily "readable" if we
is

drawings from SB 2 and 6 are made after such compare it with the same image in the center of
sculptures. A similar torso also appears on both the drawing SD 1702 recto (288). On the latter
sides of one of the three remaining folios of SB 5. folio — dated, as is the above-mentioned F 1364e,
The figure at the right of SB 2] 11 (285) would to the Paris period by the editors of de la faille
seem to be drawn from a live model, though if we 1970 — we also find the plaster model which
compare it with the discus thrower of f 1364e appears in SB 6 (sb 6|84, with impressions on 83
(286), we are forced to review our initial and 80).

269
 -V 286 The Discus Thrower, After a
-^ Plaster Statuette (ï' 1364e)

288 Double page with drawings

after a plaster statuette (so 1702
recto)

270
 One of these plaster models was used by Van
Gogh for more than just exercises in drawing and
painting; it also appears in Still Life with Plaster
Statuette and Two Books (f 360, 289), a painting
that is generally assumed to be a symbolic
representation of love and sexuality. The two
books included in the still life are Bel-Ami by Guy
de Maupassant and Germinie Lacerteux by Jules
and Edmond de Goncourt. Both are books Van
Gogh read and reread avidly. To his sister Wil he
wrote (letter w i) of hovv beautiful he found the
work of the French Naturalists, and how one
could hardly be said to be of one's time if one had
not acquainted oneself with it. He writes to her
also of how the de Goncourts' Germinie Lacer-
teux satisfied for him "the need we all feel to be
told the truth."
The most important reason for Van Gogh's
wanting to visit the academy in Antwerp and the
Atelier Cormon in Paris was that there he could
draw from live models. On SB 6|zo we find the
address of F. Cormon's "atelier libre" — 104
B(oulevar)d de Clichy - and, on SB 6I51, his
home address - 38 Rue Rochechouart. welsh
1976 and 198 1 has published particularly useful
of relevant addresses. For example, it seems
lists

that the address on SB 5I1

— 74 Rochechouart — is

the address of E. Quost, the artist so admired by

Van Gogh for his paintings of sunflowers.
Various traces of Van Gogh's work from live

models appear in several loose drawings and in

the sketchbooks SB z, 5, and 6. It is not possible

to ascertain which of these drawings were made in

Antwerp and which in Paris. This goes for the

loose drawings as well as for the sketchbook 289 Still Life with Plaster
folios. Chances are that more thorough analysis of Statuetteand Two Books (f 360,
the types of paper used for the loose drawings will Collection Rijksmuseum Kröller-
Müller, Otterlo)
yield firmer grounds for distinguishing the
Antwerp from the Paris drawings, a distinction
that will be useful for dating the sketchbook
drawings. Before carrying out further analysis, I

do not dare to presume the certainty with which

TRALBAUT 1948 and 1958 and the editors of de
LA FAILLE 1970 have dated the drawings from the

lyi
 291 Portrait of a
Woman (f 357,
Collection Rudolf
Staechelin, Basel)

290 SB ZI46

model - as well as those "after antiquities" - to

the Antwerp and Paris periods respectively.
I wonder to what extent drawing SB ZI46 (290)
should be considered a drawing from the model
rather than a portrait study. It may be a drawing
of the woman who also modeled for the painting
F 357 (291). At least, she reminds me strongly of
the latter. The dating of this painting to the Paris
period (early spring 1887) is beyond question.
WELSH 1976 considers it a basic indication of Van
Gogh's further development in Paris. If we can in
fact relate SB 2J46 to f 357, the sketchbook
drawing then becomes — contrary to current
opinion — a preparatory study made in Paris for

the painting, or at least a step in that direction.

The next stage for us then is to date the drawings
of SB 2I47-56, both stylistically and technically
so closely related to sb 2I46, to the Paris period
as well, rather than Antwerp.

272
 292 The Potato Eaters (f 82)

FOLLOWING THE PATH

OF THE HUMAN FACE
"I am very hard at work on the series of heads of
the people, which 1 have set myself to make. I

enclose here a scribble of the most recent one. I

generally sketch them from memory on a little

scrap of paper in the evening. This is one of them.
Perhaps later I will do them in watercolor as well.
But first 1 must paint them," wrote Van Gogh
(letter 390) from Nuenen to Theo. And in letter
391: "1 don't know yet what I shall do with those
heads. But I want to extract the motif from the
characters themselves. However, I do know quite
well why I did them, and what in general I have in

mind." In the meantime, we know only too well

what Van Gogh did with those heads and what
motif he extracted from the characters. 'T intend
to make a series of scenes from rural life, in short
- les paysans chez eux" (letter 400). The painting
of the Potato Eaters (f 8z, 292) represents the
culmination of this. Van Gogh closes letter 400
with the following: "if you happen to pass by Le
Chat Noir, you can show them this little sketch as
a trial, but I can make a better one if they wish,
for this was done in a hurry, and only made to
give a better idea of the effect and composition
than the first one .... You need not tell Le Chat
Noir that I intend to make a lithograph of this
subject myself. That lithograph will not be
published, however, but is quite a private affair;
for the rest, if they don't want it, I don't care
much. I shall certainly do the lithographs I want
to do." Van Gogh did in fact publish the
lithograph under his own direction (f 1661, 293).
The name of the aforementioned series Heads of
the People is a reference to a series of illustrations
of "heads of the people" that appeared in the 293 Lithograph (f 1661) after

English periodical Graphic. Number i by Small, The Potato Eaters

The British Rough (pickvance 1974 no. 75, 294)
and no. 2 by Herkomer, The Agricultural
Laborer, Sunday (pickvance 1974 no. 30, 295),
both of which are now in the Amsterdam
collection of magazine illustrations, are

representative of this series. Comparing these two

273
 ^ijosr^-^
JLIOO
REWAKD

296 SB 1I97

294 WiWiam Sma\l, Heads of the 295 Hubert Herkomer, Heads of

People, No. i the People, No. 11

with the numerous "heads of the people" in sb i three drawings and a painting all made after the

(with, for example, SB 1I97, 296, and sb 1I99), it same sitter consists of the sketchbook drawing SB
is striking that Van Gogh did not, in contrast to 1I70 (297), the letter sketch jh 6z8 (298), the
the Enghsh artists, append any attributes to his loose sketch f i 177 (299), and the painting F 154
Nuenen characters. He hmited himself to the (300). It would lead us too far astray to undertake
heads alone and found it unnecessary to describe a description of the problematics involved in the
the people's "status" by way of a text or an formation and interpretation of such series. 1

object. Placing the head

sb 1I97 next to (in
iri prefer to limit myself here to stating that it is my
fact, facing) the head by Small further illustrates strong impression that they hold the key to
the influence Van Gogh allowed such images, determining- more accurately than has until now
whether directly or indirectly, to have on him. been possible - the original functions and the
Though 1 take the Brabant farmer of SB 1I97 to geneses of the individual drawings and paintings.
be completely innocent, in this confrontation he Enclosed in letter520 (August 1888), Van Gogh
suddenly, and without the reward of £ 100 sent two large drawings from Aries to Theo in
offered in the English example, is transformed Paris: F1459 (301) and f 1460 (302). Both
into a "Dutch rough." drawings were made after the paintings f 432
A lovely series, eventually to be expanded, of and F 443 (303), completed a short time before.

2-74
298 Sketch from a letter (jh 628) 299 Loose sketch (f 1177)

300 Head of a Peasant Woman

(f 154, Collection Rijksmuseum
KröUer-Müller, Otterlo)

27s
 302 The Gardenerl Farmer
Patience Escalier (f 1460, Courtesy
Harvard University Art Museums,
The Fogg Art Museum, Bequest
Grenville L. Winthrop, Cambridge,
Massachusetts)

301 The Mailman The first is a portrait of the postman Joseph striking resemblance, as far as facial character-
Joseph Roulin (f 1459, Roulin. Clearly in keeping with the tradition of istics were concerned, to their father (304), who
Collection Los Angeles
the English "heads of the people," Roulin is had died a few years before, although he found
County Museum of Art)
recognizable as a postman thanks to the lettering Escalier more "ordinary" and even something of a
on his uniform cap. The glass on the table must caricature.
certainly be regarded as a strictly personal
"attribute" of the sitter. The second drawing is a
portrait of the farmer and gardener Patience
Escalier. Only in the later version of the painting
(f 444) does he acquire the handle of a garden
tool - an attribute of his trade. Van Gogh wrote
to Bernard (letter vb 15) that he considered this
portrait a continuation of certain head studies
made earlier in Holland. To Theo he wrote (letter

519) of having discovered that Escalier bore a

Z76
 309 Alexander Reid (f zjo.
Collection A. M. Weitzenhoffer,
Oklahoma City)

307 SB 6|8i 308 SB 6|8z

drawings in sb 6 to Antwerp. I am therefore quite so specific and readily identifiable. Suppos-

inclined to look for the men
depicted in SB 6I37/ ing though that this was in fact his Antwerp
38 in Van Gogh's Parisian surroundings; the same attire, should we then assume that Van Gogh did
is true of the author/draftsman of SB 6 [27 and of not take these clothes with him when he moved to
"the man with the cap" of SB 6|8i/8z (307 and Paris?
308). According to hartrick 1939, Vincent van
The current argument for interpreting the two Gogh and Alexander Reid looked enough alike to
last-mentioned drawings as self-portraits made be mistaken for twins. Reid was a year younger
in Antwerp does not seem to me altogether than Van Gogh and in 1887 had come to Paris
trustworthy. It is in fact primarily based on an from Scodand to work for a time — as did Theo
interpretation, cited by pierard 1924, of a and, earlier, Vincent — for the art dealer Boussod
fellow pupil of Van Gogh at the Antwerp etValadon (Goupil) (pickvance 1967). If we
academy. This student claims to have seen Van now compare the two portraits of SB 6|8i/82
Gogh in January 1886 in these clothes ("a sort of with one of the two paintings by Van Gogh said
blue smock like the Flemish cattle-dealers wear to be portraits of Reid (f 270, 309), I find it hard
and with a fur cap on his head"). The jacket and to deny the impression that we may have one and
cap depicted, however, do not seem to me to be the same person before us. The gaze, mouth, and

2-79
310 Alexander Raid (f 343, 311 'Zelfportret' (f 344)
CollectionGlasgow Art Gallery and Museum)

nose are too similar for this to be otherwise. clothing- than the figure in sb 6|8i/8z; perhaps
The opinion cited above regarding the close this is a supplementary reason to identify him as
resemblance Van Gogh and Reid bore to each Reid.
other makes my stand on the issue somewhat To bring us to the end of "the path of the human
precarious. I therefore propose a second face," I should like to go, after Nuenen, Aries,
comparison: of the other portrait of Reid painted and Paris (though the order does not correspond
by Van Gogh (f 343, 310) and an unquestioned with Van Gogh's itinerary), to Auvers-sur-Oise
self-portrait by Van Gogh (f 344, 311). Although and, in particular, to sb 7I135 (313). Next to the
this again - I admit unhesitatingly - makes me girl's head drawn in profile, would like to place
1

somewhat unsure, I am still inclined to opt for an the profile of a head originally painted against a
identification of the sitter for sb 6|8i/8z as Reid purplish background, from Auvers-sur-Oise
rather than Van Gogh. Should it be Van Ciogh, (f 518, 314). I do not mean to suggest that the
given the context of the sketchbook, then Van drawing is a preparatory study immediately
Gogh in Paris rather than in Antwerp. preceding the nearly square painting, as was more
SB 6I38 (312) may also be a drawing of Reid. often the case in Auvers-sur-Oise, but rather that
For this drawing as well, however, i hesitate to it precedes it in terms of "visual problematics."
make a conclusive identification. On the other The question of how much of the diverted glance
hand, the man portrayed in sb 6I38 looks to show has not yet been resolved in the drawing,
somewhat more distinguished - because of his while in the painting it most definitely has.

z8o
314 Head of a Girl {f ^iS,
Collection Rijksmuseum Kröller
Muller, Otterio

z8i
315 J- F. Millet, On the Way to 316 After J. F. Millet, On the
Work, reproduced in the Way to Work, wood engraving by
monograph by A. Sensier Jacques-Adrien Lavieille

:3^-^:

ALONG THE PATH OF LABOR Paul Mantz, was significant for Van Gogh. In
Van Gogh owned a well-assorted collection of i88z in The Hague he received a copy on loan
reproductions of the work of As early as
Millet. from the artist Théophile de Bock. To Theo, Van
1875 - thus still during the time that he was Gogh wrote (letter 180): "Say, Theo, what a big
active in the art trade - he was deeply moved by man Millet was! borrowed Sensier's great book
I

the works that he saw in Paris at the Millet from De Bock; it interests me so much that it
exhibition that year. It was organized in wakes me up at night and light the lamp and sit
1

commemoration of the recent death of the up to read. For must work in the daytime." In
I

"peasant painter," and in preparation for an the summer of 1884 Theo gave him a copy as a
auction of his work. After his visit, Vincent wrote gift, a present with which Vincent was overjoyed.

to Theo (letter Z9): "I don't know whether 1 have Sensier's book contains, among other repro-
already written to you about it or not, but there ductions, the etching by Millet On the Way to
has been a sale here of drawings by Millet. When Work (315). The man carrying a hayfork on his

I entered the hall of the hotel Drouot, where they shoulder and a hoe over his left forearm also
were exhibited, 1 felt like saying, "Take off your appears in the Millet painting of thesame name,
shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy of which Van Gogh owned a woodcut by J. -A.
ground." Twelve years later, in 1887, Van Gogh Lavieille (316). In Saint-Rémy Vincent painted a
had the good fortune to be in Paris just in time for "translation into colors" (f 684) from the
a large Millet exhibition in the Ecole des Beaux- woodcut. We come across the figure of the man
Arts. once again in Van Ciogh's Nuenen sketchbook
The book La vie et I'oeuvre de j.-F. Millet (Paris drawing SB 1 19 (317).
1881), written by Alfred Sensier and published by The drawing on sb i
I7 of a woman harvesting

z8z
317 SB T|9
«T-^
318 Woman Working in
the Fields (f 1Z69,
Collection Rijksmuseum
Kröiler-Müller, Otterlo)

(319) immediately brings to mind the general

example of Millet. Insofar as 1 have been able to
determine, this composition is, however, not
,'-

Van s:-
traceable to any specific example by Millet.
Gogh represents the stooping woman from
various angles in several loose drawings, among
them the drawing F 1269 (318).
Another reproduction in Sensier's book is of a
drawing, The Sower (320). In the second sketch-
book, on SB 2|éo (321), we find a sower by Van
Gogh that is reminiscent of Millet's figure. The
pattern of the arable fields in sb 2] 60, however,
does not correspond with that of the Millet
drawing. What does correspond are the stances of
the sowers and the direction in which they are
moving and the presence of a second farmer
working in the right background, although in the
sketchbook drawing the latter is reduced to a few
scrawls. It is difficult to determine precisely when
and after which example Van Gogh made the
sketchbook drawing. Did the sketchbook drawing
SB 2|6o originate, like SB 2I3, in Nuenen? Or, 319 SB I|7

2^3
320 J. F. Millet, The Sower, 321 SB z\6o 322 After J. F. Millet, The Sower,
reproduced in the monograph by etching by Paul-Edme Le Rat
A. Sensier

like SB ZI46, in Paris? And, in the case of the

latter, are we perhaps deaHng with a drawing that
came into being in direct juxtaposition with the
original painting by Millet, in the exhibition of
1887? I am unable to prove that this is true; I do,
however, dare to present it as a hypothesis.
Some time earlier, and on more than one
occasion. Van Gogh had used an etching (322)
after Millet's painting The Sower by Paul-Edme
Le Rat as an example. Just as with the copies after
Bargue, most of the drawn copies after Millet's
sower (that is, after the etching by Le Rat) have
been lost. In fact, only one remains: F 830 (323),
a drawing difficult to date with certainty. Of the
"painted translations" into color, and here we
jump back to Saint-Rémy once again, two arc
known: F 689 and F 690 (324).
The sketchbook drawing SB 183 (325) features 1 1

what is presumably the face of the "mower with

hat" whom Van Gogh drew in several versions
from the back — for example, in f 13 12 (326) -
or with his head turned away, in drawing F 13 16
(327) we see, comparatively speaking, most of his

323 The Sower face. It is my impression that in this case Van

(after Millet) (iogh was more interested in the stance of the
(F 830) mower than in the physiognomic traits of the man
himself.
284
...^ ..^^^J-AWj-j. V,
^-r"^-: X
:' '-^T':'»;!?»^- 324 The Sower (after Millet)
(f 690, Private collection)

2S5
 326 Mower with Hat, Seen from 327 Mower with Hat, Seen from
the Back (f 1312, Collection Rijks- the Side (f 13 16)
museum, Amsterdam, on loan to the
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam)

325 SB 11183

328 SB l|l26

329 Study of Hands and Arms

(f 1155)

286
 5

nt^.

330 SB 7I155

Sometimes Van Gogh limited himself to one

detail of a body — a hand or an arm, for example.
We find an example of just such a figure in the
sketchbook drawing SB i|i26 (328), here seen
from the back. The comparison with the drawing
F 1 155 (32.9), also from Nuenen — containing
among other things two such studies, though here
taken from behind — makes evident the rapid pace
at which Van Gogh made the sketchbook drawing
and just how schematic and lacking in detail it has 331 Women Working in the Fields

been left. (f 1615 verso)

The image of the two women in SB 7] 1 5 5 (330)

— thus in the sketchbook that Van Gogh used in

Auvers-sur-Oise — only opens itself to interpre-

tation when compared with the drawings F 161
verso (331) and F 1626. It is my opinion that in

this case the sketchbook drawing may be seen as

an initial observation, made in the field, of women
harvesting.
A subject favored by Van Gogh in Nuenen was
the home weavers. He made a great number of
drawings and paintings of them. We find traces of
these in two forms in SB i. The first consists of a
number of men's heads, strongly reminiscent of
the drawn and painted weavers: for example, the
head SB i|6 (332), which seems to recur in a
in

somewhat modified form in, among others, the

drawing 1123 (333) and the painting f 29.
f
The second reference to weavers occurs in the
notes on SB 1I56: "Illustration No 2174 25 Oct.
84." Precisely where and when Van Gogh made

Z87
 33^ SB i|6

334 After Paul Renouard, The

Lyon: Out of Work,
Crisis in wood
engraving by A. Bellenger

the notation is not, however, to be determined.

Perhaps Van Gogh had seen this particular issue
of the magazine I' Illustration with his artist friend
Anthon van Rappard, though this is not certain. It

may also be that Van Rappard brought it to his

attention in a letter, hi letter 393 Van Gogh wrote
to Theo: "You would greatly oblige me by trying
to get for me: Illustration No. 2174, 24 October
1884. It is already an old issue, but you will be
able to get it at the office. There is a drawing by
Paul Renouard in it, a strike by weavers at

Lyons." He found this drawing of the weavers

"the most beautiful of all; there is so much life

and depth in it." When Theo neglected to send

him the requested issue of I'lllustration, he wrote
(in letter 388b): ..." 1 have followed Renouard's
work pretty regularly, and for many years 1 have
saved up what he did for I' Illustration. And this is

one of the most beautiful. ... If it is too much

trouble for you, then forget it, though it really

cannot be so much trouble after all." From yet a

later letter (letter ^94) we know that Theo had

delighted his brother with a number of back issues
containing various "drawings" by Renouard. The
---='-:önili;ii' composition of the weavers on strike, however,
333 Weaver (f 1123) was not among them. This was in fact a woodcut
made by A. Bellenger (334) after the original
drawing by Renouard (nochi.in 1981).

zS8
 i T Sr^^'

335 SB z|3

LITERALLY DOWN THE ROAD

For somebody like Van Gogh, who was
constantly on the move, it goes without saying
that the theme of "people under way" should
return time and again in his work. In six of the 336 Farm (f 1345)
seven sketchbooks we find drawings of people
walking — sometimes merely sometimes in
figures,

barely recognizable surroundings, on the streets,

in a park, or outside in the country. The same is

true of certain topographically defined

observations, of specific buildings or
city views, for example.
more general <
Nuenen and the surrounding area recur in the
first sketchbook: the churches in Tongelre (sB i|

5) and Eindhoven (sb 1I35), the post office in the

Weigh-House in Eindhoven (sb i|iz4), the
parsonage garden Nuenen (sb 1I30, 32, and
in

123), and the old tower in Nuenen (sb 1I31). In

the second sketchbook we recognize a Brabant
cottage (sb 2I3, 335). The notation on sb 2I4 is
not entirely legible. The place names Hedel and
Bois le Due are, however, decipherable. The 337 Farmer's House at Evening
village of Hedel lies on the river Meuse not far
Time (f 1152 verso)

from 's-Hertogenbosch (Bois le Due). Why Van

Gogh made this notation in French cannot guess. I

His interest in Hedel was probably based on the

fact that it was at that time a landing stage for

ships that conducted ferry services on the river.

It is not necessary to go to Hedel to find the

cottage in sb 2I3. It is a type of cottage common
in Nuenen and the surrounding area. We are also

familiar with this sort of farm from the drawing

F 1345 (336) and the painting f 89. The verso
side of the study sheet F 1152 (337) contains two

289
 1

340 SB 1I31

341 The Old Toiver in the Snow

(f 87, Private collection

338 SB 1I30

339 The Parsonage Garden in the

Snow (also known as Winter)

(f 194, Collection The Norton
Simon Foundation, Pasadena,
California)

sketches of a farmer's residence which 1 reproduce

here to illustrate how widely sketches may differ

from each other in delivery, depending upon their

functions. The uppermost sketch of F 1 15Z verso

is little more than a primary exploration of forms.
In the lowermost. Van Gogh seems - perhaps in
preparation for the painting F 83 — to have
worked out the effect of drawing against the light:

the roof recedes sharply against a light sky, and

the shadows of the building and of the tree

approach the viewer. Both sketches show clearly

thatVan Ciogh thought his subjects through and
worked them out on paper before painting them.
The two winter landscapes of SB 130 and 3 1

(338 and 340) are also familiar from paintings: F

194 (339) and F 87 (341). Given the winter
climate, I presume that Van Gogh made the
drawings outdoors to use them later in his

"atelier" as a point of departure for his paintings.

The parsonage garden and the old tower situated

290
 342 SB 3|5

mim:
-f^ %^^

/Mtffrn%.

'

343 "Castle 't Steen

Antwerp (f 1351)

not far behind it frequently served as subjects for itself has not been preserved.
Van Gogh, for paintings as well as drawings. While in Antwerp, Van Gogh was completely
Of the Antwerp city views among the sketch- taken in by the night life, the stir and bustle, in

books, only SB 3I5 (342) can be identified with the numerous dance halls. To Theo he wrote
certainty; it is a view of the castle "'t Steen." We (letter 442): "I still go often to those popular balls

know it also as a color sketch on graph paper (f to see the heads of the women and the heads of

1351» 343)- In two of his letters toTheo from
Antwerp (440 and 441), Van Gogh referred to a
painting he had made of "'t Steen": "It is just the
thing for foreigners who want to have a souvenir
of Antwerp, and for that reason I shall make even
more city views of that kind." We are just barely
able to imagine, thanks to SB 3I5 and F 135 1,
how the painting would have looked; the painting
the sailors and soldiers. One pays the entrance fee
of 20 or 30 centimes, and drinks a glass of beer,
for they drink very little, and one can amuse
oneself a whole evening, at least I do, by watching
these people enjoying themselves."

291
 345 öcjss Player (f 1244c verso) 346 Violin PLiyer (h 1144a recto)

344 SB 3|7

//f^/Jl

^^ "- -
In the

how
^[7 (344), for example, we sec
drawing SB
Van Gogh was able not only to observe
well

anti.
^^^^^^^^B^B
»1 A
"•
^^^^1
^ 1
^
but also to draw from such an evening. Hnci it
odd that no drawings or piaintings are known
I

Êk m m 1! :« from his Paris period in which we might find

images of the no less gay life there. Indeed a
number of sketch pad folios based on Parisian
scenes are known; among others f 144c verso i

(345) and F Z44a recto (346) are illustrated

1

here.They measure circa 3V4 x IOVk," i

(^49 X 258 mm) and therefore, alas, exceed

tlic scope of the present series of seven pocket-
size sketchbooks.
Not until Aries did Van Ciogh actually paint a
dance hall (f 547, 347), the "Folies Arlésiennes,"

of which wenone of the dance floor but a

see
good deal of the public. In the Antwerp
sketchbook drawings SB 3I4 and 7, it seems that
Van Ciogh was captivated by the movement of the
figures. The pattern of color-planes in the painting
from Aries clearly shows that Van Gogh had by
347 7'/7P Dance Hall (f 547, Collection Musée d'Orsay, Paris) then become intensely involved in Gloisonnism
(welsh 1981).
292
34^ Strollers in d Park.
(presumably in the Jardin
du Luxembourg; also
known as Terrace at the
Tuileries) (k 223,
Collection Sterling and
Francine Clark Art
Institute, Williamstown,
Massachusetts)

The richly variegated image of the city of Paris is

indeed well represented in the oeuvre of Van

Gogh. Here in the "panorama of questions" I

confine myself to two aspects of this image: the

visitors to parks and the windmills at
Montmartre. The text on F 1382 verso (8) and
the drawing from the handmade sketchbook
F 1383 (25) brought us earlier to the Jardin des

Tuileries and to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Of

the paintings that Van Gogh made while in Paris

of people promenading in the park, the painting

F 223 (348) is closest to F 1383.
People sitting on a bench was a subject Van Gogh
often used since they would sit still and pose free

of charge. Van Gogh was already fascinated by

this theme even during The Hague period. At that
time he sketched and made a watercolor, for
example, of the strollers and the bench sitters in

the Bezuidenhout Park of f 952 recto (349). In O'i'

the Amsterdam collection there are various

magazine illustrations of this subject which Van 349 People on a Bench and Two Strollers, in The Hague
Gogh could have used in case he had not yet (f 952 recto. Collection Rijksmuseum Kröiler-Müller, Otterlo)

193
 ^ discovered it himself. The soUtary figure in the
sketchbook drawing SB 4I3 (350) is a glaring
contrast to the knot of people in one of these
magazine illustrations, the print In the Jardin du
Luxembourg by Auguste Lanqon (351).
The Jardin du Luxembourg itself was also
familiar territory for Van Gogh while in Paris, as
we can see from the sketchbook drawing SB 6I74
(352). The drawing in fact shows a rear view of
the Palais du Luxembourg, not a view of the
"quays of the Seine," as has been stated by the
editors of de la faille 1970 and by hulsker
1980, among others. Until now it has been
assumed that the representation of F 223 and
F 138^ could be taking place in the Jardin des
Tuileries. It seems, however, much more probable

350 SB 4|3 to me that both works originated in practically

thesame spot as SB 6I74, the Jardin du

in
i:Tri»K« fAi;l»IEN SK>'
Luxembourg, but their position faces somewhat
more to the left. The same is probably true for
SB 6|67 (353). 1 cannot identify the place for the
representation of SB 7I120 (354) with its
combination of statue and triumphal arch (?). It

seems to be a situation sketch done in haste,

originating during a visit to Paris from Auvers-
sur-Oise. Anyway, let us return to Paris as Van
Gogh had represented it a few years before then.
To do so, however, insist on taking a short
I

detour via the work of Georges Michel (d. 843), 1

the French artist so highly admired by Van Gogh.

Some years earlier Van Gogh had written to Theo
(letter 358) of motifs he had set down in Drenthe

that he believed would have "stopped Michel if he

had passed, and would have struck him." Van
Gogh did not want to be held up to "Master
Michel," but imitate him, he "decidedly |did| not
do." It is clear that Van Gogh had not forgotten

351 Auguste Lanqon, In the

Jardin du Luxembourg, magazine
illustration

294
 352 SB^6|74

353 SB 6|67

\
( X
st:^'.

u"-^c:I
\t

'.SÈt
*^
\U
'y^ 354 •
SB 7|i20

^95
357 Georges Michel,
Three Windmills at
Montmartre (Collection
Rijksmuseum H. W.
Mesdag, The Hague)

Michel when in Paris. The heavily clouded skies A comparison of a view of Montmartre drawn
of thetwo closely related sketchbook drawmgs by Michel (358), this one without the pregnant
SB 6|3 and 63 (355 and 356) are so strongly
I
cloudy sky, with Va' " )gh's sketchbook drawing
reminiscent of Michel's work - of the painting SB 4! I
(359) illustrales how the rural character of
reproduced here (357), for example - that one is Montmartre as Michel had seen was being
it

almost led to wonder whether Van Gogh did not changed by the advancing urbanization. Van
make both drawings after an example by Michel -
Gogh omitted this very aspect, though, in his
indeed in Paris, though not on the site in drawn and painted views of the hill of Mont-
Montmartre. martre (f 1398, 360, and F 166, 361,

1^6
358 Georges Michel, View of
Montmartre (Collection Musée
National du Louvre, Cabinet des
Dessins, Paris)

rj

359 SB 4|1

360 Montmartre Hill

(F 1398)

361 Montmartre Hill

(f z66, Collection
Rijksmuseum Kröller-
Müller, Otterlo)

^97
 364 The Moulin de Blute-l^m
Glasgow Art
(f Z74, Collection
Gallery and Museum)

363 SB 6I28

respectively). The sketchbook drawing sb 6\z<-) painting F 790 (365) is one of the undisputed
(362) shows one of the windmills at Montmartre masterpieces of Van Gogh. It shows the town hall,

from close by. It seems likely that the windmill in bedecked with flags for the French national
SB 6|z8 (363) is the same. Van Gogh drew and holiday of the fourteenth of July and, in the
painted this windmill relatively often and from foreground, trees and poles from which Chinese
diverse vantage points - also, for example, in the paper lanterns are suspended. We saw earlier a
radiant painting f 274 (364). half of the double folio f 16^0 recto/1637 verso
with reference to the perspective frame (274). On
Apparently Van Gogh was captivated by the town the other half (f 1630 recto, 368) we find the

hall in Auvers-sur-Oise. This is not altogether town hall, somewhat different here however than
coincidental, as Van Gogh lived diagonally across in the painting - without flags and Chinese
from it: "Place de la Mairie chez Ravoux." The lanterns hanging in the foreground. A pedestrian

Z98
 368 The Town Hall of Auvers-
sur-Oise, with a Stroller in the
Foreground (f 1630 recto)

365 The Town Hall of Auvers on

Bastille Day (f 790, Private
collection)

walks across the left foreground. From sketch-

book SB 7, two additional cursory sketches can be
appended to this: SB 7|zz (366) and SB 7I98
(367), both with different elements in the
foreground.
It stands to reason that the two sketchbook
drawings mentioned in the foregoing paragraph
come first chronologically, followed by the larger
drawing and, finally, the painting. In which case
we would have here an example of how Van
Gogh first explored the various possibilities for a
subject in hasty scribbles, subsequendy worked all

299
 1

371 SB 7|i lo-i 1

369 SB 7I126

370 Landscape with

Carriage and Train
i? I

^"1 ^y '
^ << ^•
(f 760, Collection
Pushkin State Museum of
Fine Arts, Moscow) 1

of this out in a more detailed drawing, and finally,

under the influence of the actual situation,
delivered in yet further modified form a painting.
Sometimes also a sketchbook drawing serves as
little more than a crutch for remembering a
smaller component of a much larger composition.
This is true, for example, of the train cars of
SB 7|iz6 (369), which reappear in a much longer
chain in the painting F 760 (370).
A surprising sketchbook drawing, very
appropriate for the section "Literally Down the
i»<tt^^sStKc:: Road," SB 7I1 to— 1 1 1 (371). It is an early
is

i example of an artistic rendering of a woman on a

bicycle. The technical details of the bicycle are
rather summarily provided, but I presume that
this is meant to be a three-wheeled bicycle.

Whether Van (iogh would have become

increasingly interested in cycling - as was Henri
dc ToulouseT.autrec, with whom he had become
acquainted at the Atelier Cormon - if he had lived
longer, is a c]uestion open to speculation. Of the
"chansonnier populaire" Aristide Bruant, who
founded the cabaret l,e Mirliton in Montmartre in

300
372 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,
Aristide Bruant on a Bicycle
(Collection Musée Lautrec, Albi,
France)

373 SB 7[i36

1885, Toulouse-Lautrec made a splendid oil

sketch in 1892 (catalogue Rotterdam 1977 no.
104, 372). For Van Gogh this never went beyond
the single sketchbook drawing.
The rather remarkable combination of the
woman cycling and the three fish is perhaps best
explained if one bears in mind the fact that the
sketchbook drawings were primarily intended for
Van Gogh's eyes alone, and not for any audience
more removed. The fish may perhaps be of the
sort swimming in the Oise. In any case, we know
that Van Gogh also followed the Oise in search of
motifs; sketchbook drawing SB 7] 136 (373) is a -«.
good example of this. The same location is also
familiar from two larger drawings (f 1627 and
F 1629, 374). In the latter we see the reflection of
the large tree, as in SB 7I136, in the water of the
Oise. This is presumably another example of an
initial scribble or exploration which is to be
followed by a more thoroughly worked drawing
on a larger scale.
374 Landscape at the Oise
(f 1629)

301
 376 Landscape with a Tree
(f 1 6x3 verso)

375 SB 7|8-9

^-^iciO?---

\
"^
. -S^

\'^^

We find a similarly oriented exploration of a portrait study of Gachet.

subject in the sketchbook drawings SB 7I8-9 Thanks to Gachet and his etching press, the

(375) which seems to precede the drawing F 1623 opportunity to make a series of prints — now
verso (376). Such consecutive drawings illustrate etchings rather than lithographs — after earlier

to what extent Van Gogh arranged his landscapes work was suddenly within Van Gogh's reach. Van
and how he manipulated them. Gogh was firmly convinced that Gachet would be
willing to print the etchings for him at no cost,
ALONG THE SWEET PATH OF MEMORIES certainly if Gachet could keep a few copies for
Doctor Paul Gachet, with whom Van Gogh himself. Van Gogh expected that Gauguin, too,
became acquainted in Auvers-sur-Oise, was not would want to take part in such an arrangement.
only a good friend to numerous artists - Cezanne, Oddly enough, he did not imagine that Gauguin
Pissarro,and Guillaumin, among others - but he would be represented by recent work. Instead he
also owned an etching press which he and his had in mind the work that Gauguin had done
used regularly. While in The Hague,
artist friends much earlier, during his stay in Martinique. Given
Van Gogh made eight lithographs (f 1655-1660 Van Gogh's own choice, it is reasonable to
and F 1662— 1663); in Nuenen he made one, after assume that the work Gauguin produced while in
his painting the Potato Eaters (f 1661, 293). Aries with Van Gogh would have been considered
Thereafter nothing much more came of this, for inclusion in a joint portfolio of etchings. Van
neither in Antwerp and Paris, nor in Aries and Gogh himself did not plan to produce a series of
Saint-Rémy. The only remaining etching is the etchings of Auvers-sur-Oise but, instead, a series
portrait of Gachet, also well known as "the man of motifs from the South, that is to say, from
with the pipe" (f 1664, 377). Comparing the Provence.
etching with the sketchbook drawing SB 7I72 In a letter to Theo (letter 642) Van Gogh talks of

(378), one is inclined to interpret the latter as a "motifs du Midi" and, in a letter written though
man holding a pipe in his hand. There is, how- never sent to Gauguin, of "souvenirs de
ever, insufficient reason to take this sketchbook Provence" (letter 643). It is remarkable that Van
drawing (and thus SB 7I60 as well) to be a Gogh worked on his "souvenirs du North" while

302
still in Saint-Rémy and, as soon as he was back in

the Nord — although not as far north as The

Netherlands — had the "souvenirs de Provence"
on his agenda.
In letter642 Van Gogh writes that he is
considering making a series of six works. He
informs Theo that Gachet will come to Paris to
see the paintings of his (Vincent's) that were
stored there, and that he and Gachet will then

choose the works to be considered for the series of

etchings. One finds in letter 643 that Van Gogh

planned to make an etching after the painted
portrait of L' Arlésienne (f 540—543). He also
writes of wanting to make an etching after the
painting Road with Cypress and Star (f 683) as 377 Doctor Gachet, etching
well as after other landscapes and motifs, and one (f 1664) 378 SB 7I72
after the other souvenirs of Provence.

Neither UArlésienne nor the Road with Cypress his sketchbook for exercises for his "souvenirs de

and Star are to be found among the sketchbooks. Provence," the southern motifs of which he
Nevertheless I maintain that SB 7 can help us to planned to make etchings. It is also possible that
determine what motifs Van Gogh had in mind for he wanted to describe for Gachet the paintings in

his series of etchings. There is, for example, a Paris he should look out for. The drawings in

drawing of women picking olives (SB 7I5), a question come between drawings which cannot
subject that Van Gogh had already selected with possibly be dated to Aries or Saint-Rémy; the
this end in mind in Saint-Rémy — although he then chances that the book was used in Aries, Saint-

had lithographs rather than etchings in mind. He Rémy, and/or Auvers-sur-Oise are slight. It is my
had gotten this idea it seems from the description opinion that Van Gogh used SB 7 during his stay

Theo had written him of a portfolio of twenty

to in Auvers-sur-Oise only.
lithographs in diverse tints ty A. M. Lauzet after Leafing through SB 7, we encounter three
paintings by Adolphe Monticelli in an edition to Arlesian motifs and three from Saint-Rémy. The
be published by Boussod, Valadon et Cie. Van motifs from Aries are those of SB 7I90, Vase with
Gogh was immediately enthusiastic and began at Fourteen Sunflowers, of sb 7I91, Vase with
once to make plans for a similar portfolio after his Twelve Sunflowers, and of SB 7I142, Les
own work. Alyscamps, Aries. The motifs traceable to Saint-
With respect to SB 7I5, tralbaut 1955 was Rémy are those of sb 7I5, Women Picking Olives,
surprised that the subject, women picking olives, of SB 7 6, 1 Two Strollers in a Ravine, and of sb 7I
seemed to suggest that the drawing was made in 92, Vase with Irises. A fourth, and somewhat less
Saint-Rémy, while the drawing style is already evident "path" to Saint-Rémy is suggested by the
suggestive of Auvers-sur-Oise. His answer to this horses hitched to a carriage in sb 7I31, 125,
problem is that the drawing style incipient in and 149.
Saint-Rémy was only fully developed in Auvers-
sur-Oise.
I opt for a different approach to the problem: I

suggest that in Auvers-sur-Oise Van Gogh used

303
379 ^ase with
Sixteen Sunflowers
(also known as
Fourteen Sunflowers)
Of the painted versions of the sunflowers, three

(f 454, Collection The contain sixteen flowers (f 454, 379, f 457, and
National Gallery, F 458) and two contain twelve (f 455 and F 456,
London) 380). 1 cannot find sixteen flowers in the sketch-
book drawing SB 7I90 (381), hut the composition
380 Vase with
Twelve Sunflowers seems to me to be in keeping with the trio f 454,

(f 456, Collection F 457, and

458 in large measure. In his letters
F
Bayerische Staats- Van Gogh spoke of fourteen and not of sixteen
gemaldesammlungen, sunflowers. The two extra flowers of each version
Munich)
of the painted trio are for the time being a
mysterious "bonus." It is also possible, with a fair
amount of goodwill, to establish a compositional
similarity between SB 7I91 (382) and the duo f
455 and F 456. The drawn vases are, however,
381 SB 7I90 382 SB 7I9 I
different in form from the painted ones, and are
more reminiscent of the vase with handles in the
painting of Vase with Irises (f 678, 383) made in

Saint-Remy. The horizon in the sketchbook

drawings — which is quite low compared to the

five painted versions of sunflowers - is also more

304
 384 SB 7I92

385 Sketch in letter 592 (present

location unknown)

383 Vase with Irises (f 678)

similar to the examples from Saint-Rémy (along there are twelve. Of both. Van Gogh drew only
with F 678, for example, also F 682, Vase with the most essential elements of the composition.

Roses) than of the sunflowers from Aries.

Comparing SB 7I92 (384) with 678 makes f

clear, however, that we should not expect an all

too exact correspondence between the sketchbook

drawing and the painted example from which it is

derived. We should not, it seems to me, discount

Van Gogh's having drawn the
the possibility of
sketchbook drawings in question from memory,
that is, without the painting directly in front of

him. in this case it is no longer surprising that

elements from diverse paintings appear so firmly
welded together.
We also find the sunflowers in a letter sketch
from Saint-Rémy (in letter 592, present location
of the page with the sketch unfortunately
unknown, 385); here they frame the painting with
La Berceuse. The fourteen (or sixteen) flower
version is recognizable at the left; at the right

305
 386 Les Alyscamps (f 486,
Collection Rijksmuseum KröUer-
Müller, Otterlo)

i^UMk

387 SB 7[l42

The motif of Les Alyscamps in Arles occurs in sarcophagi.

four paintings that are compositionally related to The same may be said of SB y\6 (388) and its

each other in pairs. Paintings F 486 (386), and relation to the paintings F 661 (389) and F 622.
F 487 have high vantage points from which the In the paintings one initially notices therocky
view is seen through autumnal poplars lining Les landscape and only later perceives the figures
Alyscamps. In the other duo (f 568 and f 569), walking along the little bridge; in the sketchbook
Van Gogh paints a view down the length of Les drawing the figures are prominent. While working
Alyscamps. The sketchbook drawing SB 7I142 (
on this pair of paintings Van Gogh had described
387) is closest to F 486. The vantage point of the the subject of "the ravine" to Theo as character-
drawing, however, is much lower, there are no istic of Provence (letter 622). Paul Gauguin was
people on the promenade, and the sarcophagus in strongly impressed by one of the two painted
the middle tends to dominate the image. What is versions when he saw them at the Salon des
retained is the oblique view through the trees. Indcpendants (March/April 1890), an exhibition
in this instance we can presume that
Certainly in which Van (iogh was well represented by ten of
Van Gogh worked from memory alone and his paintings. Exactly which of the two this was,
therefore concentrated on the most prominent is at present difficult to ascertain. Even the sketch
characteristics of Les Alyscamps: the trees and the that Gauguin drew in one of his letters to Van

^06
 ^ V- ,.,./ >>y

(O
6 ''/--

y
[^

388 SB 7|6

3S9 \ivn Strollers in a Ravine

J (f 661, Collection Rijksmuseum

Krölier-Müiler, Otterlo)
Gogh (cooper 1983, GAC 40, 390) provides no
conclusive evidence. The dissimilarity between
Gauguin's letter sketch and Van Gogh's
sketchbook drawing is striking. It is almost
impossible to believe that both drawings refer to
one and the same painting, and yet there is no 390 Paul Gauguin, sketch in letter

reason to doubt this. It is striking that Gauguin GAC 40

emphasized the presence of the landscape in his

sketch, while Van Gogh stressed the presence of

the figures and, furthermore, that this is so despite
Gauguin's reference to the small travelers who
seemed to him to be climbing upward, in search
of the unknown.

^07
 391 ^omey^ Picking Olives (also
known as The Olive Orchard)
(f 656, Collection National Gallery
of Art, Chester Dale Collection,
Washington, D.C.)

Olive trees and cypresses were for Van Gogh

preeminent symbols of Provence. The olive
pickers of SB 7I5 (392) are familiar from three
paintings: F 654, F 655, and F 656 (391). The
drawn trees lack the whimsicality so characteristic
in the paintings. It is a pity that the drawing of the
same subject which Van Gogh sent to Gauguin
has been lost (cooper 1983, gac 38). Had this
not been the case, we would be able to compare
the manner in which Van Gogh had drawn the
image at the time he was painting it, in Saint-
Rémy, with the Auvers-sur-Oise version done
from memory.
In the case of the painting Road with Cypress

and Star (f 683, 393), the situation is again

different. In the aforementioned letter 64^ Van
Gogh described the painting down to the smallest
details, with words as well as with a letter sketch
(jH 1983, 394). He announced also that he was
planning to make an etching after the painting.
He found the painting not only terribly romantic,
but also "de la Provence" — characteristic of
Provence. The letter sketch differs fairly strikingly
from the painting on various accounts — among
others, in the figures walking in the foreground,
the carriage, and the house. The compositional
relationships also vary from the painting to the
letter sketch. A primary radiographic analysis of
the painting has thus far provided insufficient
evidence to suggest later comprehensive
reworking of the three elements mentioned. The
letters contain no indication of Van Gogh's
having painted more than one version of the
subject, to say nothing of a version wherein the
392 SB 7|5 above-mentioned details would in fact correspond
to those of the letter sketch.
In SB 7 we find several studies of horses, for the

most part loose, though sometimes also hitched to

a wagon. Drawing SB 7I31 is still the most closely
related to the corresponding detail of the letter
sketch |H 198?. The loose drawings help even
less. The drawing on i- ^87 recto (395) contains
1

a carriage that is quite similar to the one in the

painting F 683. Further analysis of the types of

308
 393 Koad with Cypress and Star
(f 683, Collection Rijksmuseum
Krölier-Müller, Otterio)

,, Sketch in
^g^
'^ /*<. ^«.*-.. c^y, i,t^ letter 643
•v,. ^^„ (JH 1983)

'^^
,.l.f / ^C^V-^PIC'I^^SmJ tr (liaOC

'""Wl^f^'

ii^-^

paper used inSaint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise ;m

will, 1 hope, help to establish whether or not

F 1587 is jusdy dated to Saint-Rémy.

In fact, the same problem arises as with the
^ë Carriage with Two
I'

Figures on
395
drawings after antiquities and from the model a Road (f 1587 recto)
that Van Gogh made in Antwerp and Paris. Both
transitional periods - Antwerp/Paris and Saint-
Rémy/Auvers-sur-Oise - are virtual mine fields for
art historical research, research of which I hope in
due course to be able to give an account.

309

4
397 Daiibigny's Garden
(F 765

In Auvers-sur-Oisc Van Gogh was confronted by in the case of f 518 (3 14).

a recollection of a sort other than the "souvenirs Two other — rectangular — paintings representing
de Provence," a recollection with which I wish to the same subject are also familiar; in these Van
conclude the present "panorama of questions." Gogh literally doubled his angle of vision: the
Van Gogh had heard that the widow of lefthand side of the garden is now also included
Daubigny, an artist he greatly admired, still (f 776 and F 777, 398). He included a sketch of
Her husband had died
resided in Auvers-sur-Oise. this broad version in one of his very last letters

Van Gogh had

there in 1878. Since his arrival. (letter 651, jh ztoC-., 399). A comparison of the

contemplated painting Dauhigny's Garden. The sketchbook drawing and the letter sketch shows
sketchbook drawing sb 7I61 (396) shows a clearly to what extent the various functions of the
cursory sketch of the righthand side of the garden. drawings can be read from their format, sb 7|6i
The painting f 765 (397) is a painted study in is made on the
a first notation of observations
which nearly all the components of the site, while jh zio6 was intended to give Theo an

sketchbook drawing reappear. Van Gogh, idea of the painting which was eventually
however, modified the proportions in the sense executed. The circle is complete.
that he altered the rectangular format of sb 7
(approximately 3VX x SVks"/, 86 x 134 mm) to a
square of approximately zo x zo" (51 x 5 1 cm).
Roughly the same measurements came up earlier.

310
 398 Daubigny's Garden (f 777,
Collection Rudolf Staechelin, Basel)

399 Sketch in letter 651 (jh 2106

^11
Conclusion

In Chapter i (Van Gogh as Draftsman) we saw make it possible to consider the drawings
how many various types of "sketches" one can previously published in relation to those published
distinguish from each other. We also saw that here for the first time. A total of about 150 "new"
each of these in one form or another occurs in the drawings were thus added to the published oeuvre
oeuvre of Van Gogh, in this book 1 have concen- ofVan Gogh.
trated on one specific type: the sketches that Van The technique used for each drawing is also
Gogh made in store-bought, pocket-size given in these listings. For her assistance in both
sketchbooks. The pocket-size measurements made word and deed in identifying and classifying these
it possible for him to have the sketchbooks on techniques, I wish here to thank Charlotte Wolf.
hand at all times so that he could note down or It was her most fruitful idea to purchase in an
draw a quick something at any given moment. In artists' supply store a few types of chalk currently
a forthcoming book I hope to present the larger in general use and consequently, in order to
sketch pads; it seems already that these sketch determine the techniques Van Gogh used, to
pads will also shed light on numerous combina- compare their traces under a microscope with
tions as yet undiscovered. those of the sketchbook drawings.
In Chapter 2 (Criteria for a Reconstruction) I In this way it became apparent, for example, that

described the methods I developed in order to Van Gogh made manifold use of lithographic
carry out the reconstruction, l.ooking back, 1 am chalk in the Nuenen sketchbook SB i and in the
in all honesty obliged to admit that along with all Antwerp sketchbook SB 3. This type of chalk is
of the intellectual deliberation, a fair amount of not actually intended for use on paper. When so
"luck" and "try and try again" came in handy for used, an extremely characteristic relief is formed -
the reconstruction. All along I have derived a visible if — making it
studied under a microscope
great deal of pleasure from the "dummies" that 1 possible to identify the lithographic chalk. The
made for myself by folding, cutting, assembling, Nuenen drawing SB z|3 also appears to be made
and mounting the photocopied drawings in the with this chalk.
various signatures. Actually, these dummies A number of drawings in SB 7 seem to have been
served for a time almost constantly as my own drawn with a sort of dressmaker's chalk. The
"pocket-size sketchbooks," with which I sat microscopic structure of the chalk in these
puzzling endlessly. drawings in any case best corresponds with this

In Chapter 3 (Sketchbooks 1-7, Reconstruction type. Another result of this analysis of the

and Full-Size Illustration) I attempted to provide a drawing materials Van (K)gh used, lias been that
verifiable account, sketchbook by sketchbook, of most of the drawings in sb 7 are made with a sort

the deliberations involved in what ultimately led of chalk pencil. Fven with the naked eye, the
to the reconstruction presented here. The traces of the wood casing in which the chalk was
references to the catalogues raisonnés of dk la held are clearly visible. When the chalk point was
FAii.i.K 1970 and HUi.SKhK I 980 in the listings wearing down the wood also made contact with
preceding all of the reproductions, are intended to the paper, whereby it has left qmte a few traces

311
and even some furrows in the sketchbook. cases" should be dated to the Paris period. It may
The experiences I have acquired from this work safely be assumed that Van Gogh purchased sb 6
lead me readily to express my hopes that proper while still in Antwerp; thus fix the dating to
I

attention will be given in thecoming years to the (Antwerp and) Paris. SB 7 is in my opinion
technical analysis of the drawings of Van Gogh. entirely datable to the lastmonths of Van Gogh's
In Chapter 4 (A Panorama of Questions) 1 life in Auvers-sur-Oise. With the drawings it

wished to put the reader on the track of the contains of the subjects that had kept Van Gogh
numerous and diverse relationships between the so intensely busy in Provence, it has become a true
sketchbook drawings and the other drawings and — albeit unintentional — synthesis of Van Gogh's
paintings by Van Gogh. That panorama is artistry.

certainly not exhaustive. In numerous instances

questions remain open, awaiting further in-depth
study. This is true, for example, of the transitional
periods Antwerp/Paris and Saint-Rémy/Auvers-
sur-Oise. Analysis of the loose drawings from
these periods will, in combination with what we
have thus far learned from the sketchbooks — at
least I hope — lead to a more reliable dating than
has until now been possible, and likewise also to a
better understanding of the artistic issues with
which Van Gogh concerned himself during these
periods.
As far as the dating of the sketchbooks is

concerned, at the least a rough certainty has been

established. All the drawings in SB i argue a
dating to the time of Van Gogh's stay in Nuenen.
The drawings of sb 2 fall chronologically into
three groups: Nuenen, Antwerp, and Paris. To
judge from what has been preserved of SB 3, this

seems to me Antwerp period.

to be datable to the
Working again from just a scanty number of
folios, would want to date sb 4 and SB 5 to the
I

Paris period. This is also true for SB 6. None of

the drawings in SB 6 seem to me positively
datable to theAntwerp period. The majority of
them suggests naturally that they were done in
Paris. For the time being, I hold that the "dubious

3^3
Literature Cited

CL KERSSEMAKERS 1912
The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh. ^
Anton Kerssemakers. Article from a 1912 weekly
vols. London— New York, 1958 magazine, reprinted in: Verzamelde Brieven van
Vincent van Gogh. Amsterdam-Antwerp, 195 ^,

COOPER 1983 vol. Ill, no. 435c, pp. 92.-97

Douglas Cooper. Paul Gauguin: 4 Lettres a 5-

Vincent, Theo et Jo van Gogh. Collection MARKS 197Z

Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Atnsterdairt. The Claude Marks. From the Sketchbooks of the
Hague— Lausanne, 1983 Great Ajtists. New York, 1972.

DE LA FAILLE 197O (F and SD) NOCHLIN 1981

J.-B. de la Faille. The Works of Vincent van Linda Nochlin. "Van Gogh, Renouard, and the
Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings. Revised, Weavers' Crisis in Lyon: The Status of a Social
augmented, and annotated ed. Amsterdam, i
970 Issue in the Art of the Later Nineteenth Century."
In: Art, the Ape of Nature: Studies in Honor of
DE SABLONIERE 1955 H.W. Janson. New York, 1981, pp. 669-88
Margriet de Sablonière. "Een onbekende schets
van Vincent van Gogh." Museumjournaal i OBERTHUR 1984
(1955). PP- 68-69, 76 Mariel Obcrthur. Cafés and Cabarets of
Montmartre. Salt Lake City, 1984
HARTRICK 1939
A. S. Hattrick. A Painter's Pilgrimage Through PICKVANCE 1967
Fifty Years. Cambridge, 19^9 Ronald Pickvancc. A Man of Influeiwe: Alc.x Reid
i8^4-i<)2.H, Edinburgh: 'Fhe Scottish Arts
HEIJBROEK 1975 Council, 1967

J. F. Heijbroek. "Matthijs Maris in Parijs,

1869-1 877." Oud Holland S<) (1975), 4, PICKVANCE 1973

pp. 266—89 "The New dc la Faille' 'Fhe Burlington

Magazine 1 15, 840 (March 1973), PP- 174-80

HULSKER 1980 (jh)
Jan Hulsker. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, PICKVANCE 1974
Drawings, Sketches. Oxford— New York, 1980; English Influences on Vincent ran Gogh.
based on the Dutch edition: Van Gogh en zijn Nottingham: University of Nottingham and Arts
weg: Al zijn tekeningen en schilderijen in hun (Council of Great Britain, 1974-75
samenhang en ontwikkeUng. Amsterdam, 1977

314
I'ICKVANCE 1984 TRALBAUT 955 I

Van Gogh in Aries. New York: The "Twee onuitgegeven documenten." De

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984 Tafelronde: 11 X Vincent van Gogh 2, 8-9,
pp. 6-9
PIERARD 19Z4
Louis Piérard. La vie tragique de Vincent van TRALBAUT 1958
Gogh. Paris, 192.4 Van Gogh te Antwerpen. Antwerp, 1958

POLLOCK 1980 VAN CRIMPEN 1974

Griselda Pollock. Vincent van Gogh in zijn Han van Crimpen. "Drawings by Vincent, Not
Hollandse jaren: Kijk op stad en land door Van Included in de la Faille." Vincent: Bulletin of the

Gogh en zijn tijdgenoten i8yo-i8c)0. Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh 3 (1974), 3»

Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, pp. z-5
1980
VB
ROSKiLL 1971 Verzamelde brieven van Vincent van Gogh.
Mark W. Roskill. "Van Gogh's Exchanges of 4 vols. Amsterdam— Antwerp, 1953
Work with Emile Bernard in 1888." Oud Holland
86 (1971), 2-3, pp. 142--79 WELSH 1976
Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. Vincent van Gogh:
ROTTERDAM 1977 His Paris Period, 1886-88. Utrecht-The Hague,
De fiets. Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-van 1976
Beuningen, 1977
WELSH 1981
SZYMANSKA 1967 Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of

Anna Szymahska. Unbekannte Cloisonnism. Toronto-Amsterdam: Art Gallery of

Jiigendzeichnungen Vincent van Goghs und das Ontario and Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh,
Schaffen des Künstlers in den Jahren i8yo-i88o. 1981
Berlin, 1967
WYLIE 1970
TOKYO 1985 Anne Stiles Wylie. "An Investigation of the

Vincent van Gogh Exhibition. Tokyo: The Vocabulary of Line in Vincent van Gogh's
National Museum of Western Art, 1985. Expression of Space." Oud Holland 85 (1970), 4,

Exhibition catalogue annotated by Haruo pp. 2 1 0-3 5

Arikawa, with texts by Ronald Pickvance

("English Influence: City and Types"), Johannes
van der Wolk ("Peasants and Landscapes under
the Sky of Millet"), Shuji Takashina ("Van Gogh
and France"), and Akiko Mabuchi ("Van Gogh
and Japan")

TRALBAUT 1948
Mark Edo Tralbaut. Vincent van Gogh in zijn

Antwerpsche periode. Amsterdam, 1948

315
 5

Index
Numbers in italic refer to page numbers.
Numbers in bold face in parentheses refer to illustrations.

ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN 1} CACHET, PAUL 21}, ^OZ-^OJ -Letter 651 (with jh 2106) 310 SB I I38 32(56)
(399) SB I I39 32,265-66(56)
ANQUETIN, LOUIS II GAUGUIN, PAUL I J, J02-}0J, J06- -Letter b 15 276 SB I
I40 33 (57)
}o8 (390) -Letter w i 277 SB I I41 33 (57)
ANTWERP Letter sketches, so-called 77-7 SB I I42.-45 33
Academy lyj, 2j<) GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON -VBlp. 103, see SB 6|63 SB I I46 33(58)
Castle "'t Steen" 291 13 -VB II p. 433, see SB 1 1
124 SB I I47 29,33(58)
Dance halls 291 -VB lip. 437, see SB 1 1 ^ 5
SB I I48 29, 33
GOGH, THEO VAN J2, 212, 266, — VB II p. 444, see SB 1 1
30 and SB I 1
third signature 30 (fig. 6)
ARLES 278-J9, 282, }oj, 310 SB l|3I SB I I49 29,30,33
"Folies Arlésiennes" 2^2 — VB II p. 459, , see SB 1 199 SB I so 77, 29, ^0, ?5. 26f-66
Les Alyscamps ^04,^06 GOGH, THEODORUS VAN (1822- -VB III p. 4, see s B 3 1
(59, 272)
1885) 276 (304) -VB III p. 16, see SB 1I50 SB I
Is I 33,265-66(59,272)
AUTRAN, JOSEPH 1} -VB III p. 39, see SB 2I3 SB I l5i-55 33
GOGH, VINCENT VAN -VB III p. 53, see SB 1 1 1 oI SB I I56 33, 288 (60)
AUVERS-SUR-OISE Anatomical proportions, grasp of -VB III p. 136, see SB 6|8i SB I
I57/58 29,30-31.33
Daubigny's Garden 26;,}io 267-72 -VB III p. 137 see SB 6|82 SB I
I59-62 30-37, 33
Place de la Mairie chez Ravoux 25 Artist supplies } 12-13 Lithographs 273, 302 SB I I63 29-30, 33 (60)
Town Hall 298-ci^ Drawings after antiquities 269-71 Magazine illustrations, collection SB I
I64 29-50,^^61)
Drawings from the model 277-72 of 75-77 SB I I65 33(61)
BARGUE, CHARLES 267-69, 284 Etching 302 Menu cards 27 SB I I66-69 33
{279-82) Heads of the People (series) 273-76 Notebooks 7^-74 SB I 70 33,274(62,297)
Japanese albums 15(15) Perspective and spatial proportion SB 1
I71/72 29-37, 33
BELLENGER, ALBERT 2SS (334) Japanese prints, collection of 75, 265-6^ SB 1 1
fourth signature 30 (fig. 7)

2/2 Sketchbook i (sB i) 8-t), 11, 22- SB I

73 33 (62)
BERNARD, EMILE JJ, 2^,276 juvenilia, see Works, listed in de la 23, 2s,2<)-82, 312-13 (1,3,29-30, SB 1 1
74-7 5 33 (63)
FAILLE 1970 39-88) SB I
1
76-77 33
BOCK, THEOPHILE DE 2S2 Letters (vb and cl) -SB I first signature 30-3 i (fig. 4) SB I 1
78-79 33 (64)
— Letter 24 13 -SB I 1-3 30,32 SB I 80-89 33
BOis LE DUC, see -Letter 29 282 -SB I
4 30-32 C41) SB I 90-91 i3 (65)
'S-HERTOGENBOSCH — Letter 49 13 -SB I 5 30-32,289(41) SB I 92-93 33
— Letter 164 18 -SB I 6 30-32,288(42,332) SB I 94-95 33 (66)
BRETON, JULES 13 {l2.) -Letter 180 282 -SB I 7 J2, 28? (42, 319) SB 1 96 33. 267 (67)
-Letter 185 79 -SB I 8 3^(43) SB I fifth signature 31 (rig. 8)

BROOKE, E. WALPOLE 2/2(219) -Letter 190 7 -SB I 9 29,32,283(43,317) SB 1 97 n. -:74 (67, 296)
— Letter 205 266 -SB I 10 29,32(44) SB I
I98 33(68)
BRUANT, ARISTIDE }00 -Letter 222 266 (272) -SB I II 3-2(44) SB I 99 r7. 33, 274(68)
-Letter 275 7j -SB I 12-13 32 (45) SB I 100 3? (69)
BUCKMAN, ED. 214 -Letter 330 (with JH 405) 17(2.1) -SB I 14 32{a(>) SB I 101 77, 3^ (69)
-Letter 358 294 -SB t 15/16 29. M SB 1 102-103 'Ï (70)
CASSAGNE, ARMAND 267 -Letter 388b 288 -SB I 17 3M46) SB 1 104-109 i3
-Letter 390-91 273 -SB I 18 32(47) SB I 1 10- 1 I 33 (71)
CEZANNE, PAUL }01 -Letter 393 288 -SB I 1 9/20 3 7 SB 1 112-15 33
-Letter 394 267, 288 -SB I iï 32 (47) SB I 116-17 ?3(72)
CORMON, FhRNAND 27/ -Letter 400 273 -SB I 22-23 32 (48) SH 1 118-19 ?3 (73)
-Letter 440-42 291 -SB I 24 ?;-;2 (49) SH 1 |i20 33
DAUBIGNY, CHARLES }J0 -Letter 451 74(13) -SB I second signature 30 (fig. 5) SB 1 si.xth signature f i (rig. 9)
-Letter 459, see SB 6|6i -SB I 25 29, 31-32 (40,49) SB ! 121 ?3
DORDRECHT -Letter 492 75- (15) -SB I 26 29,37-32(50) SB I 122 u (74)
Windmills near Dordrecht (so- — Letter 517 269 -SB I 2-7 i2 (50) SB 1 |i2i yh 289 (74)
called) / <jO — Letter 519-20 276 -SB I 28-29 32 (5O SB 1 124 77. n. 289 (75)

-Letter 592 ^05 (385) -SB I 30 77,32,289-90(52,338) SB 1

I115 H (75)
EINDHOVEN -Letter 622 306 -SB I ?i 77. ! 2, 289-90 (52,340) SB I |l26 54, 28- (76, 328)
St. Catherine's Church 289 -Letter 638 267 -SB I 32 32, 289 (53) SB I 127 i4 (76)
Weigh-House (post office) 2H<) -Letter 642 303 -SB I 3^(53) SB 1
I128 14
33
-Letter 643 (with jh 1983) 303, -SB I 34 32 (54) SB 1 1129/1 30 29, !4
ESCALIER, PATIENCE 276 308 (394) -SB 1
15 77,32,289(54) SB 1 l'3i-34 i4
— Letter 646 212 -SB I 36-37 32 (55) SB 1 ns/i U' 29, fi, f4

316
-SB I 137-41 34 -SB 2I27 83, 85-86 (108) -SB 5I3 J42 (147) -SB 6|57 750, 753 (156, 187)
-SB iii42-43 34 (77) -SB 2 28 83, 86 (109) -SB 142 (148)
5I4 -SB 6I58 '50. 153 (156,188)
-SB i|i44 34 -SB 2I29-32 8^-86 -SB 5I5 142 (149) -SB6I59 750, 753 (153,189)
-SB I jseventh signature 32 (fig. 10) -SB zithird signature 8i-8^ Sketchbook 6 (SB 6) 8-9, 11, 11, -SB 6|6o 750, 753 (153, 190)
-SB I 145 29, }4 (fig. >4) 2J-27. I 48-111, 178-79,313 (1,3, -SB 6|6i 78, 750, 753, 278(153,
-SB 1I146 Z9, 34 (78) -SB 2I33 83,85-86(110) 28, 150- 217) 191)
-SB i|i47 34 (78) -SBZ34 83,85-86(111) - SB 6 first signature 749 (fig. 16) -Sb6|62 750,153,278(153,192)
-SB 1I148-5} 34 -SB 2 35/36 84-86 -SB 61-5 148-49, isi -SB 6|63 18,750,753,296(156,
-SB 1I154-55 34 (79) -SB z|37 8^-86 (112) -SB 6|é 148-49, 1^1 (160) 193.356)
-SB 1I156-57 34 (80) -SB 2I38 8^-86 (113) -SB 6|7-i2 149, 1^1 -SB6|64 750,753(156,194)
-SB I 158-61 34 -SB ZI39/40 85-86 -SB 6|i3 149, 152 (161) -SB 6|65 750, 753 (155, 195)
-SB I l6i 34 (81) -SB 2I41 8^-86 (114) -SB 6|i4 149, 752, 178 (162) -SB 6|66 750, 753 (155, 196)
-SB I 163 34,265-66(81) -SB 242 8s, 87 (115) -SB 615 749-50, 752 (163) -SB 6|67 750, 753, 194 (154, 197,
-SB i|i64-65 34,265-66(82) -SB 2I43/44 8s, 87 -SB 616 749,752(164) ^ 353)
-SB i|i66 34(83) -SB2I45 84-85,87(116) -SB 6|i7 149, iS^ -SB 6|68 750, 753 (154, 198)
-SB I 167/168 19, 31, 34 -SB ZI46 84,87.272,284(117, -SB 6 18 149-50. 152. -SB 6|69 750, 753 (199)
-SB I leighth signature jo-?/ 290) -SB 619 148-so, 151 (165) SB 6I70 750, 753 (200)
(fig. II) -SB 2 47 83, 87, 171 (118) -SB 6 20 748, 750, 752, 277 (166) -SB 6I71/72 750, 753
-SB 1I169 34 (83) -SB 2 48 83, 87, 171 (119) -SB 621 749-50, 752 -SB 6|fourth signature 748-49
-SB 1I170-71 }4 (84) -SB 2 fourth signature 8^-84 -SB 6 22 J49. '.5'2 (fig. 19)
-SB I I72--73 34 (fig. 15) -SB 6 23 748, 75-0, 752 (167) -SB 6|73 149-50, 753 (201)
-SB i|i74 34 (85) -SB z|49 83-84,87,272(120) -SB 6 24 748, 750, 752 (168) -SB 6|74 149-50. 153. 294 (202,
-SB i|i75 30,34 (85) -SB z 50 83-84, 87, 171 (izi) — SB 6|second signature 149-5^0 352)
-SB I 176 30, 34 -SB 251 84, 87, 171 (122) (fig. 17) -SB 6|75 149-50. ^53 (203)
-SB 1I177-79 34 -SB z|5z 84, 87, 171 (123) -SB 6 25 757-52 -SB 6I76 149-50, 1S3 (204)
-SB i|i8o-8i 34 (86) -SB z|53 83-84,87,272(124) -SB 6 26 r5'2 -SB 6|77 748, 750, 753 (205)
-SB i|i82 34 (87) -SB 2I54 83-84,87,272(125) -SB 6 27 75-0-52,279 (158, 169) — SB 6I78-79 748, 753
-SB 1I183 34, 287(87,325) -SB 255 84, 87, 171 (92, 126) -SB 6 28 150-51, i9fi (158, 170. -SB 6|8o 26, 748, 7f?, 277 (38,
-SB 1I184 34 (88) -SB 2 56 84,87,272(92,127) 363) 206)
-SB I 185 30, 34 (88) -SB 2 57 84, 87 (92, 128) -SB 6 29 J 50-')i, 196, 198 (171, -SB 6|8i 78,26,748,753,279-80
-SB 1I186-92 30, 34 -SB 2I58 84, 87 (92, 129) 362) f37.207,307)
Sketchbook 2 (sb 2) 8-9, 11, 1^, 83- -SB 2I59 83-84,87(130) -SB 6I30 150-52. (172) -SB 6|82 78, 748, 753, 179-80
117-313 (1,3.89-132) -SB 2 60 83-84. 87, 183-84 -SB 631 J50-52. ^96 (157. 173. (208, 308)
-SB 2 first signature 83-8^ (131.32-1) 355) -SB 6|83 748,753,277(151,209)
(fig. 12) -SB 2|6i/6z 84, 87 -SB 6 32 150-52 (157) — SB 6|84 26,748-49,753,277(36,
-SB 2|l 83, 86 -SB z|63 83-84,87(132) -SB 6|33/_,4 757-52 151,210)
-SB 2I2 83, 8s-86 (93) -SB 2I64 83-84, 87 -SBé|35 150-52 (159) — SB 6|85 748-49, 7 n (151. 21 1)
-SB 2 3 j8, 8s-86, 184, 189. 311 Sketchbook 3 (sb 3) 8, ji, 118-3^, -SB 6I36 750-52 (159, 174) -SB 6|86 748-49,753(151,212)
(94.335) 178,311-13 (133-39) -SB 6|37 750-52, 279 (159, 175) -SB 6|87 748-49, 753 (213)
-SB2I4 85-86,289(95) -SB 3I1 128,278(133,305) -SB 6I38 750-52,279-80(159, -SB 6|88 748-49,753,278(214)
-SB2I5 84-86(91,96) -SB 32 128, 178 (134) 176,312) -SB 6i89 148-49, 153 (152, 215)
-SBz|6 84-86(91,97) -SB 3I3 118 (135) -SB6I39 150-51 (177) — SB 6I90 748-49,753(152,216)
-SB 2|7-io 8^-86 -SB 3I4 118, 191 (136) -SB 6I4O 750-52 (178) -SB6I91 748,753(217)
-SB 2 II 84-86,271(91,98,285) -SB 3I5 18, 118, 178, 191 (137, -SB 641 750-52 (157, 179) -SB 6I92-96 148-49, 153
-SB z iz 84-86,271(91,99,287) 342) -SB 6 42 150-51 (157) Sketchbook 7 (SB 7) 8-9,77,24-
-SB 2 13/14 84-86 -SB 3|6118 (138) -SB 6 43/44 151-52 25, 272-64, 373 (1,3,31,218-71)
-SB2II5 74,83-84,86(100) -SB 3I7 128,294(139,344) -SB 6|45 150-52 (158) — SB 7|first signature 273-74
-SB 2I16 83,85-86(101) Sketchbook 4 (sb 4) 8, 11, 136-41, -SB 6I46 149-52 (158, 180) (fig. 20)
— SB 2|second signature 83-8J 313 (140-44) -SB 6 47/48 149-^0,1^1 — SB 7I1-3 274, 276
(fig. 13) -SB 4 I 136,296(140,359) — SB 6|third signature 149-50 — SB 7I4 274, 276 (226)
-SB2I17/18 85-86 -SB 4iz 136 (141) (fig. 18) — SB 7I5 114,116,303-304,308
-SB z|i9 8y86 (102) -SB 4I3 136,294(142,350) -SB 6|49/< 749-50, 752 (226, 392)
-SB 2I20 85-86 (103) -SB4I4 136(143) -SB 651 749-50, 752, 277 (181) — SB 7|6 274, 276, 304, ^06-^07
-SB z|zi 83, 8^-86 (104) -SB 4 5 136(144) -SB 6 52 150, 752 (182) (227, 388)
-SB z 22 83, 8;-86 (105) Sketchbook 5 (sb 5) 8, ji, 25, 141- -SB 653 750, 752 (154, 183) — SB 7I7 274,276(227)
-SB 2I23 84, 86 (106) 47.313 (145-49) -SB 6 54 750, 752 (154, 184) -SB 7|8 274,276,302(228,375)
-SB 2I24 84, 86 (107) -SB 5I1 141, 271 (145) -SB6I55 750, 753 (155, 185) -SB 7I9 274,276,302(221,228,
-SB 2 25/26 84, 86 -SB 52 141, 271 (146) -SB 6 56 750, 753 (155, i86) 575)

317
SB 7|lO 2/4, 2l6 (221, 229) -SB7I95 2/3-/4,2/7(249) -SB 7|l 55 2IS, 218, 28- (270, -F 833 269
SB7I1I 213-/4,216(222,229) -SB 7 96 2/3-/4, 217 (250) 330) -F 847-48 269
SB 7I12 213-14,216(222,230) -SB 7 fourth signature 2i}-i^ -SB 56-57 2/5,278(271)
7I1 -F 952 recto 293 (349)
SB 7I13 214, 2/6 (230) (fig. 23) -SB 58-60 21^, 2j8
7|l -F 992, see SB 6I90
SB 7|i4-i5 214,216,268(231) -SB 7I97 2/3-/4,2/7(250) Sketchbooks, handmade 18-20 -F 1093 J^-I2, 25(5)
SB 7I16-I7 2/4,216,268(232) -SB 7I98 2I}-I4, 217, 298-99 Sketch p ad pages 18, 266 -67, 292, -F 1123 288(333)
SB7II8-I9 2/4,2/6,268(233) (251, 367) .^'2 -F 1152 verso 289-90(337)
SB 7I20 2/4, 2/6 (234) -SB7I99 2/7(251) "Souvenirs de Provence" (' Motifs du -F 1155 287(329)
SB 7I2I 2/4,2/6(222,234) -SB 7 lOO-IOI 2/7 Midi" 30^-^09
) -F n68 19
SB 7I22 214, 216, 29S-99 (222, -SB 7I102-IO4 2/4,2/5,277 "Souvenirs du Nord" 50 1 -F 1177 274(299)
235.366) -SB 7I105 2/4, 2/7 Works 1 sted in de la faille 1970 -F 1226 /2 (9)
SB 7I23 2/4,2/6(221,235) -SB 7I106 275,2/7(252) -F 29 288 -F 1244a recto 292 (346)
SB 7I24 2/4,2/6(221,236) -SB7I107 277(252) -F 82 2-73 (292) -F 1244c verso 292(345)
SB 7 25 2/4, 2/6 (236) -SB7I108-109 2/7(253) -F83 289 -F 1269 283 (318)
SB 7I26-27 214, 2/6 -SB7110-II 2/7,300-50/(254, -F87 290 (341) -F 13 12 287 (326)
SB 7 28-29 ^14^2.17(2^7) 371) -F 89 289 -F 1316 287(327)
SB 7 30 2J4, 2j6 (238) -SB 7I112-13 217 (255) -F 154 274 (300) -F 1338, see SB 1 125
SB 7 31 2J}-14, 116, }04, }o8 -SB7I114-17 2/7 -F 194 290 (339) -F 1344, see SB 2I3
(238) -SB 7I118 2/5, 2/7 —F 205 27S (306) -F 1345 289(336)
SB 7I32 2J}-I4, 2/6 -SB7I119 277 -F 2l6 269 (283) -F 1350 recto, see SB 35
SB 7|second signature 21} -sb7|t20 2/4-75,2/7,294(256, -F 223 293-94 (348) -F 15 50 verso, see SB 3I6
(fig. 21) 354) -F 266 296 (361) - F I550a, see SB 3I7
SB 733 2/3-/4, ^-'6 -SB 7 121/122 2/7214, -F 270 279 (309) -F 1350b, see SB 3I4
SB 7 34 2/3-/4,2/7(239) -SB7I123 2/4,2/7(256) -H 274 298 (364) -F 1351 291 (343)
SB7I35 2/3,2/7(220,239) -SB 7I124 218 (257) -F 343 280 (310) -F 1353, see SB 641
SB 7I36 2J }, 21-/ (220) -SB7I125 2/8,304(257) -F 344 280 (311) -F 1354, see SB 6I36
SB 7I37 2Ii,21J -SB 7I1Z6 2/8,300(258,369) -F 357 272 (291) -F 1354a recto, see SB 6|82 and
SB 7I38-59 2/3, 2/7 -SB 7 127 2J^-j;, 218 (258) -F 360 17' (289) SB 6|87
SB 760 2/3,2/7,302(240) -SB 7I128 273-/5, ^^^ -F 432 276 -F i354avers(), see sb 6|8 1 ,ind

SB 7I61 2/3,2/7,5/0(220,240, -SB 7|fifth signature 21^,21$ -' 443 2-6 (303) SB 6|88
396) (fig. 24) -' 444 276 -F 1355, see SB 33
SB 7I62 2iy (210,241)
21 i, -SB 7 129 273, 275, 218 -F 454 304-30S (379) -F 1358, see SB 32
SB 7 63 2/3,2/7(241) -SB 7 130 2/3,2/5,278(259) -F 455 304-30^ -F 1359, see SB 3I1
SB 7I64 2/3, 2/7 -SB 7 131 2/5,2/8(259) -F 456 304-:iOS (380) -F 1361 / 1-12 (6)
SB 7|third signature 21^-14 -SB 7I 32- 33 2/5,2/8(260)
I 1 -F 457-58 }04-iOS -F 1362 recto, see SB 5I4
(fig. 22) -SB 7I134 275, 2/8 (261) -F 486 306 (386) -F 1364e 271 (286)
SB 7I65 2iyi4, 217 -SB 7I135 lis, 218, 280 (261, -F 487 306 -F 1372 recto, see s» 6I37
SB 7 66 2/3-/4,2/7(242) 3-3) -F 504- 508 :ios -F 1372 verso, see sb 6I58
SB 7 67 2/4,2/7(223,242) — SB7I136 26,2/5,278,30/(35, -F518 280, 3 70 {314) -F 1376 2 7
SB 7|68 2/4,2/7(223,243) 262, 373) -F 540- 43
303 -F 1377 27 (27)
SB 7I69 2/4,2/7(243) -SB7I137 26,2/7,2/8(34,225, -1' 547292-93 (347) -F 1378 recto /8(22)
SB 7I70 2/4,2/7(244) 262) -F 568- 69 306 -F 1380 recto, sec SB 4I4
SB7I7I 2/4,2/7(224,244) -SB 7 1 38 26, 21s, 218 (33, 225, -F 654- 5 5 ^0^ -F 1 580 verso, sec SB 4I3
SB 7I72 2/4,2/7,302(224,245, 263) -F 656 308 (39!) -F 1581 recto, see sb 26
378) -SB 7I I 39/1 40 26,2/5,2/8 -F 661 }06-i07 (389) -1- 1381 verso, see SB 2I5
SB 7I73 2/4,2/7(245) -SB7I14I 26,275,2/8(32,263) -V 662 i 06- 3 07 -F 1381 recto /-/ 2 (7) /

SB 7I74-85 ^'4' 2.17 — SB7I142 21 S, 218, ^04, ^0() -V 678 ios (383) -F 1382 verso 11-12. 295 (8)
SB 7 86 214, 2iy (246) (264, 387) -F 682 30 <i -F 1383 20,293-94(25)
SB 7187/88 2/4, 217 -SB 7143 275, 218 (264) -F 683 303, 508-509 (393) -F 1384, see SB 6 67
SB 7I89 2/4,2/7(224,246) -SB 7 144-45 2/5,2/8(265) -F 684 282-8^ -F I 385, sec SB 6 74
SB 7I90 2/4, 2/7, ?04-30f (224, -SB7I146-47 2/5,2/8(266) -F 689 184 -F 1386, see SB 4 5

247.381) -SB 7I148 21'i, 218 (267) -F 690 284 (324) -F 1 594, sec SB 4I r
SB7I91 2/4, 2/7, 304-50T (247, -SB7I149 2/7,2/8,304(267) -F 760 300 (370) -F 1395, see SB 6|29
382) -SB 71 50 275, 218 (268) -F 765 3'0 (397) -F 1398 296(360)
-SB7I92 2/4, 2/7, 304-;oy (248, -SB 7 151 2/5,278(225,268) -F 776 3'o -F 1412 2/
384) -SB7I152 2/7,278(225,269) - 1-
777 5/0 (398) -F 1459 276(301)
-SB7I93 2/4,2/7(223,248) -SB7I155 2/5,2/8(269) -F 790 298-99 (365) -E 1460 276 (302)
-SB7I94 2/4, 2/7(223,249) -SB7I154 275,2/8(270) -F 830 284 (323) -F 1508 recto 267-68(276)

3IS
 91 316
6
5 112 6 1 1

—F I 541 266 JH 194 see F 952 recto -JH674 see SB 1 1 1 1 H 1035,

035 see SB 4I2
-FisSyrecto ?oS-?09 (395) JH 256 see F 1658 -JH680. see SB 1 1
169 H io?7.
037 see SD 1702 recto
-F 1609 verso i6j-68 {ijj) JH 259 see F 1655 -JH734- see F 78 073 see SB 5I1
—F i6i I verso 266 JH 262 , see F 1656 -JH 736, see F 1226 074 see SB 5I2
-F1615 verso 287(331) JH 266 see F 1657 -JH737. see F 1 66 080 see F 1364e
-F 1616, see SB 7I23 JH z68 , see F 1662 -JH744' see F 1
1 55 1 1 see F 223
-F 1617, see SB 7I35 JH 272 , see F 1663 -JH 764- see F 82 115 see F 274
—F 6 22 recto,
1 see SB 7|l ?8 JH377 see F 1660 -JH777' see F 83 153 see F 1244c verso
—F 1622 verso, see SB 7I 37 JH 379 see F 1659 -JH 801 see SB 2I3 154 see F 1 244a recto
—F 1623 verso 301 (376) JH405 (in letter 330) 77 (21) -JH 802, see F 1345 160 see so 1714
-F 1626 287 JH45S see F 1 1
23 -JH 803 see F 89 162 see F 1376
—F 1627 501 JH 471 see F 29 -JH 832. see F 1269 163 see so 1717
-F 1629 307 (374) JH 553 see SB 1 17 -JH 854 see F 1 3 1 174 see F 1398
—F 1630 recto 298-99(368) JH 5 54 see SB 1 1
-JH858. see F 1 3 1 175 see F 266
-F 1636 268 JH 555 see SB i|io -JH963 see SB 6I36 181 see s B 4 1

-F 1637 verso 266-67,298(274) JH 556 see SB i| 1 -JH 964 sec SB 1I25 188 see SB 6I29
-F 1638 168 JH 557 see SB i| 12 -JH965 see F 1093 197 see F 1378 recto
-F 1644 recto seeSB7|68 JH 559 see SB i|i3 -JH 966, see SB 3 1
207 see F 270
— F 1644 verso, seeSB7|67 JH 568 see SB 1I27 -JH967. see s B 3 1
216 see F 3 5 7
— F 1654 recto, seeSB7|ii JH 573 see SB i|i8 -JH 968 see SB 3I7 250 see F 343
— F 1654 verso, see sb 7I12 JH 577 , see SB 1I22 -JH 969, see SB 3I4 308 see SD 1720
-F 1655-60 302 JH589 ;S -JH97 see F 205 348 see F 216
-F 1661 273, 30; (293) JH 591 see SB 1I28 -JH976. see s B 3 1
349 see F 360
-F 1662-63 302. JH 592 , see SB I 29 -JH977 see F 1 3 5 350 see F 1 4 1 2
-F 1664 i02 (377) JH 59« see SB 131 -JH 980, see SB 3I2 353 see F 344
— SD 1693a, see SB 2I59 JH 599 see SB 1 1
30 -JH 982. see SB 6I37 52.2 see F 432
-SD 1693b, see SB 2I58 JH 600 see F 87 -JH983 see SB 6I38 547 see F 1459
— SD 1693c, see SB 2I52 JH 601 see SB 1I32 -JH 984 see s B 3 1
548 see F 443
-SD 1693d, see SB I53 JH 603 see F 194 -JH 986. see SB 2I46 549 see F 1460
— SD 1693e, see SB 2I46 JH 606 see s B 1 1 3 5 -JH 987, see SB 2I52 561 see F 456
-SD 163 if, see SB 2I50 JH 607 see SB 1 170 -JH 988, see SB 2I53 562 see F 454
-SD i693g, see SB 2I5 i JH 608 see F 154 -JH 989, see SB z|50 563 see F 444
-SD i693h, see SB 2I38 JH 609 see F 77
1
1 -JH 990, see SB 2I5 I 620-21, see F 486-87
-SD 1693!, see SB 2I27 JH 628 78,274(298) -JH 991 see SB 2I58 622-23, see F 568-69
-SD 1693J, see SB 2I47 JH634 see SB 1I97 -JH 992. see SB 2I59 652, see F 547
-SD 1694, see SB 2I21 JH635 see SB 1101 -JH 994, see SB 2I34 655, see F 504
— SD 1695, see SB 2I34 JH 636 see SB 1
99 -JH 995 see SB zjzi 666-67, see F 457-58
-SD 1697 recto, see SB 2] 56 JH637 see SB 1 |i 10 -JH 996, see SB 6|8i 668, see f 455
-SD 1697 verso, see SB 2I55 JH 638 see SB i|i24 -JH 997. see SB 6|82 669-72, see F 505-508
-SD 1702 recto 2yj (288) JH 639 see SB i|i23 -JH 998, see F 36 1 729/1730, see F 1541
-SD 1704, see SB 4|z JH 640 see SB 15 -JH 1000, see SB 2I56 804, see F 662
— s D 7 4 21
1 1 JH 641 see SB 16 -JH 1001, see SB 2I55 836, see F 689
-SD 1716 recto, see SB 5I1 JH 642 see SB 1 1
146 -JH 1002, see SB 2I38 837, see F 690
-SD 1716 verso, see SB 5I2 JH 643 see SB 147i| -JH 1003, see SB 2I27 867, seesB7|5
-SD I717 20-2f (26) JH 646 see SB i|i66 -JH 1006, see SB 2I47 868-1870, see F 654-56
-SD 1720 21 JH659 see SB 1I171 -JH 1009, see SB 5I4 871, see F 661
— SD 1729, see SB 7J5 JH 660 see SB 1 170 1
-JH IO16, see SB 6I41 880, see F 684
— SD 1730, see SB 7J 31 JH 661 see SB i|i8i -JH 1019, see SB 4I4 892-95, see F 540-43
— SD 173 I, see SB yjio JH 662 see SB I 183 -JH 1020, see SB 4I3 969, see F 587 recto
I

-juv Sketchbooks 1, 11, and iii 14- JH 663 see SB 1 1182 -JH 1021, see SB 6 1

67 977, see F 678

if, 18-19 (14) JH 665 see F I T 52 verso -JH 1022, see SB 4I5 979, see F 682
-JUV XXIX, see sb 6|63 JH 666 see F 1 168 -JH 1023, see SB 2|6 982, see F 683
Works listed in hulsker 1980 JH 667 see SB 1 1

154 -JH 1024, see SB 2I5 H 1983 (in letter 643) 308 (394)
-JH I, see F 830 JH668 see SB i|i57 -JH 1025, see F 383 1 996, see F 1638
— J H 13, see F 8 3 3 JH 669 see SB i|i22 -JH 1027, see F 1382 recto -JH 2019, see F 760
-JH 128 79 (24) JH 670 see SB 1I40 -JH 1029, see SB 6I90 -JH 2024, see F 1627
-JH 132 7, l8-I<) (2) JH 671 see SB 1 103 1
-JH 1030, see SB 6|74 — JH 2025, see F 1629

-JH 133 79 (23) JH 673 see SB 1I46 -JH 1033, see F I

377 IH 2oz8, see F 1664

319
 1

-JH Z0Z9, see f765 GONCOURT, JULES AND EDMOND MERSON, LUC-OLIVIER I6 (16) Mirliton, Le ^00
-JH 2056, see F518 DE 271 Montmartre 296-98, ;too
-JH 2061, seeSB7|i38 MEURS, WIM VAN 1} Rochechouart, Boulevard 278
-JH 2062, see SB 7I31 GRAPHIC zy^ Rochechouart, 38 and 74 Rue 271
/J,
— JH 2065, see SB 7J68 MICHEL, GEORGES 294, 296 (357" Salon des Independants (1890) 306
— JH 2066, see SB 7I67 GUILLAUMIN, ARMAND 21,^02 58) Tuileries, Jardin des 12,295-94
— JH 2068, seeSB7|io
— JH 2069, s''eSB7|ii HAGUE, THE MICHELET, JULES IJ PISSARRO, CAMILLE j02
-JH 2070, see SB 7I12 Bezuidenhout Park 2()^
QUEVY 27S
-JH 2075, seeSB7|i37 Goupil &: Co. 14 MILLET, JEAN FRANCOIS 282-84
— JH 207e, seeSB7|35 Scheveningen beach 265-66 (315-16, 320, 322)
— JH 2077, see SB 7I23 QUOST, ERNEST 27!
— JH 2079, see F T636 HEDEL 289 MONTICELLI, ADOLPHE }0}
— JH 2080, see F 1630 recto RAPPART, ANTHON VAN 28S
— JH 2082, see F 1637 verso HEINE, HEINRICH I? NIJLAND, HIDDE 3/ (40)
REID, ALEXANDER 279-80
-JH 2085, see F 1615 verso
— JH 2087, see F 1626 HERKOMER, H. IJ, 273-74 (295) NUENEN
— JH 2094, see F 1623 verso RENOUARD, PAUL 288(334)
Cottage 2S9-90
-JH 2104-2105, see F 776-77 HERTOGENBOSCH, 'S- 289 The old tower 2S9-90
— JH 2106 (in letter 651) 3/0(399) ROULIN, JOSEPH 276
Parsonage garden 265,289-90
ILLUSTRATION, l' 288
— JH 2108, see F 790
RÜCKERT, FRIEL1RICH 7 5
Works neither belonging to SB 1-7 OISE }0I
KONING, ARNOLD H. 21
norlisted in de la FAn.LF. 1970 or
RUSSELL, JOHN 7 S
HULSKER 1980 PARIS
— Double KRÖLLER-MÜLLER, HELENE }ƒ
folio with copies after Boussod, Valadon and Cie. 279,
SAINTE BEUVE, ( .A. 7 5

Bargue 267-68 (278) 303

— In the Haarlem notebook i ^ (11) LANgON, AUGUSTS 294 (35 l)
Chalet, Restaurant du 21
SCHEVENINGEN see THE HACiUE
— In the margin of Luc-Olivier Chat Noir, Le 72,275
LAU7.ET, AUCiUSTE M. JOJ
Merson, Les Victinies dn Devoir Clichy, 4 ^ Avenue de 21 SENSIER, ALFRED 2S2-S4
16 (16-17) Clichy, 104 B(oulevar)d de 27;
LAVIELl.E, JACQUES-ADRIEN 282
-Lines in a perspective frame 266- Cormon, Atelier 2ji,}oo SMALL, WILLIAM 272-^4 (294)
(316)
67(2-75) Drouot, Hotel (Millet exhibition
— On the mount of magazine LE RAT, PAUL EDME 1875J 2S2 TERSTEEG, BETSY /4-/^. 18
284(322)
illustration inventory no. 576 Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Millet
(6 (18)
MACQUOID, PERCY l6-l^ (20) exhibition 887)
i 282 TONGELRE
— Used as mount for magazmc Gare du Nord 278 Church 289
illustration inventory no. 204 76 MANT7., PAUL 282 Laval, Rue 2, 27S
1

(19) Luxembourg, |ardin du 20, 295-94 TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, HENRI DE

MARIS, THIJS I 3 (lO-I 1) Luxembourg, Palais du 294 27, ^00-:iOI (372)
GOGH, WIL(HFI.MTNA) VAN 27J Martyrs, Rue des 278
MAUPASSANL, GUY DE 27 Maubeuge, Rue de 278 UHI.AND, LUDWK, / 5

)20
È
 TBICVUBlTrilBFWSllY X%

Ill
Boston Public Library.
9ato of this material benefttad the LR^sry

•^y "BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY"

SoN4E Other Abrams Art Books
Van Gogh in Aries
By Ronald Pickvance
252 illustrations, including 166 plates in full color

Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers

By Ronald Pickvance
305 illustrations, including 90 plates in full color

Van Gogh
By Meyer Schapiro
70 illustrations, including 50 hand-tipped plates
in full color

Studies in Post- Impressionism

By John Rewald
Edited by Irene Gordon and Frances Weitzenhoffer
77 illustrations, including 8 plates in full color

Impressionism
By Pierre Courthion
314 illustrations, including 62 hand-tipped plates
in full color

Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

100 Fifth Avenue

New York, N.Y 10011

Printed in The Netherlands

 0-8109-1 73)1

^-^wg^*