Weaver’s house
Built in 1763 as a weaver’s house. Later it became known as the ‘verger’s house’ because the owner – the verger/organist of the Reformed Church – lived here until 1967.
The weavers in Nuenen carried out their work at home; the loom was located inside the house or in a shed on an earthen floor. The small spaces were an obstacle for Vincent: ‘These people are difficult to draw because in the small rooms one cannot take enough distance to draw the loom […] However, I have found a room here with two looms, and it can be done there’. The weavers led a harsh existence. In the first half of 1884, Vincent dedicated nearly thirty paintings and drawings to these craftsmen. Their tools also became a motif: ‘I am also painting a loom – made of old oak, turned greenish-brown – in which the year 1730 is carved. By that loom, at a little window overlooking a green field, stands a child’s chair, and the small child sits in it for hours watching the shuttle go back and forth’. Although he often de…
The weavers in Nuenen carried out their work at home; the loom was located inside the house or in a shed on an earthen floor. The small spaces were an obstacle for Vincent: ‘These people are difficult to draw because in the small rooms one cannot take enough distance to draw the loom […] However, I have found a room here with two looms, and it can be done there’. The weavers led a harsh existence. In the first half of 1884, Vincent dedicated nearly thirty paintings and drawings to these craftsmen. Their tools also became a motif: ‘I am also painting a loom – made of old oak, turned greenish-brown – in which the year 1730 is carved. By that loom, at a little window overlooking a green field, stands a child’s chair, and the small child sits in it for hours watching the shuttle go back and forth’. Although he often depicted the interiors without many details, in some works he gave them more attention. The houses are often difficult to identify.
Vincent was in contact with several weavers who posed for him, including Toon Swinkels, Peter Smulders and Pieter Dekkers. Swinkels lived in a dilapidated house on the Berg, and Vincent is said to have painted for three months in his father’s weaving workshop. Dekkers, whose son Driek collected bird nests for Vincent, lived just outside the village at De Rijt 2; both houses have since been demolished.
Of the countless weavers’ houses in Nuenen, only a few have been preserved. One is located in the centre on today’s Berg, just a stone’s throw from the rectory. Although there is no conclusive evidence, it is likely that Vincent knew the little house not only from the outside but also from the inside. The house was probably built as a weaver’s house in 1763. After various owners, weaver Willem van der Burg bought the property in 1869, and it remained in the family for a century. Willem’s daughter was the verger of the Reformed Church and lived there until 1967.
After a renovation in 2017, it has been used as an accommodation under the name ‘Het kostershuisje’ (‘the verger’s house’). This building can serve as a pars pro toto for the many weavers’ houses that Vincent visited.
This text has been translated using AI.