Workshop of Theo de Vries

For the series of head studies that Vincent produced in the winter of 1884–1885, he most likely used a perspective frame. As early as 1882 he used such a framework, which made it easier to transfer the composition onto the support in the correct proportions. He probably had a new perspective frame made by the local contractor and carpenter Theodorus de Vries (1836–1890).

In the preserved cashbook of De Vries, under the Van Gogh family, the following is noted on 8 March 1884: “Frame with window made 1.00” and “2 planks made drawing 1.30,” with “Son” being mentioned. Three pages of notes for “Dominie Van Gogh” provide insight into what De Vries made for the family, also mentioning the “Young Master” Vincent.

For the Van Gogh house, the carpenter repaired chairs and bedsteads, made crutches for the mother after her leg fracture, and in May 1884 took the mangle down from upstairs and set it up downstairs – probably after Vincent’s studio had left the former mangle room. No notes from the year 1883 have been preserved, but it is very likely that the preparation of Vincent’s studio in the mangle room of the rectory was also carried out by De Vries.

Vincent will have visited him regularly, and since he apparently had objects made to order, he may have had frequent contact with him. Theo de Vries lived at what is now Berg 34, close to the rectory. Vincent’s sister Lies also wrote in her memoirs about the “neighbor-carpenter.”

The house and the adjoining workshop date from 1872. Two adjacent plots were acquired that year by a blacksmith and his wife; they demolished the houses and built a new house with a workshop for the smith. They sold the whole in 1876 to Theo de Vries. At this address there was probably also an inn; it is not excluded that Vincent may have borrowed beer mugs or other stoneware for still lifes. De Vries’s two brothers were also carpenters, living in their parental home at Heieind F535, now Park 35.

This text has been translated using AI.