Reformed vicarage
Opposite the Protestant Church, at number 47 on the Torenstraat, you see a stately white building, the Reformed vicarage.
Opposite the Protestant Church, at number 47 on the Torenstraat, you see a stately white building, the Reformed vicarage.
On 31 January 1871, the Van Gogh family moved into the stately clergy house diagonally opposite the Protestant church. It was a ‘detached house with a garden and a plot of land for growing potatoes’. Vincent loved going there. After spending the Christmas of 1872 with his parents, in March 1873 he wrote: ‘I’ll go to Helvoirt at Easter. If I possibly can.’
Vincent’s parents and sisters lived here from 1871 to 1875. At the time, Vincent was working at Goupil Art Dealers, first in The Hague and later in London and Paris. He stayed at the vicarage a few times in 1873 and 1874. He visited at Christmas and during his holidays. He sketched the Reformed church where his father preached. He also made drawings for Betsy Tersteeg, the daughter of his boss in The Hague.