VINCENT VAN GOGH
106 Portrait of Joseph Roulin
Reed and quill pen and brown ink and black chalk; H: 3 2
cm (i2^5 /s in.); W: 24.4 cm (9^5 /s in.)
85.GA.299 (SEE COVER)
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: John Peter Russell, Belle-Isle-en-Mer;
sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, March 31, 1920, lot 70; A.
Hahnloser, Winterthur; Mrs. H. Hahnloser-Buhler,
Winterthur; private collection, Switzerland.
EXHIBITIONS: Vincent van Gogh, Frankfurter Kunstve-
rein, Frankfurt, 1908, no. 97. 60 Zeichnungen und Aquar-
elle als Ergdnzung der Ausstellung von Meisteriverken aus Pri-
vatsammlungen im Museum, Graphisches Kabinett,
Winterthur, August-October 1923, no. 124. Vincent van
Gogh, Kunsthaus Zurich, July-August 1924, no. 79 (cat-
alogue by W. Wartmann). Vincent van Gogh, Galerie Otto
Wacker, Berlin, 1927-1928, no. 101 (catalogue by J.-B.
de la Faille). Moderne Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Gra-
phisches Kabinett, Winterthur, 1929, no. 60. Von Ingres
bis Picasso, Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne, July-August
193 8. Die Hauptwerke der Sammlung Hahnloser, Kunstmu-
seumLuzern, 1940, no. 181. Vincent van Gogh, Kunsthal-
le Basel, October-November 1947, no. 155 (catalogue
by A. M. Hammacher et al.). Vincent van Gogh: Dipinti e
disegni, Palazzo Reale, Milan, February—April 1952, no.
99 (catalogue by A. M. Hammacher et al.). Vincent van
Gogh, Kunsthaus Zurich, 1953. Zeichnungen und Aquar-
elle von Vincent van Gogh aus dem Besitz des Rijksmuseum
Kroller-Milller und von anderen Leihgebern, Frankische
Galerie, Nuremberg, 1956, no. 63. Europdische Meister-
werke aus schweizer Sammlungen, Staatliche Graphische
Sammlung, Munich, 1969, no. 50 (catalogue by G.
Hopp). Vincent van Gogh: Zeichnungen und Aquarelle,
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, April-June 1970,
no. 55 (catalogue by S. Rathke-Kohl). Van Gogh in Aries,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, no. 89
(catalogue by R. Pickvance).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. van Gogh-Bonger (ed.), Vincent van
Gogh: Brieven aan zijn broeder (Amsterdam, 1914), vol. 3,
p. 133; O. Hagen, "Vincent van Gogh, 16 Faksimiles
nach Zeichnungen und Aquarellen," 15. Druck der Ma-
rees-Gesellschaft (Munich, 1919), pi. 4; J.-B. de la Faille,
L'oeuvrede Vincent van Gogh: Catalogue raisonne (Paris and
Brussels, 1928), vol. 3, no. 1458; W. Uhde, Vincent van
Gogh: Leben und Werk (Vienna, 1936), pi. 25; H. Thann-
hauser, "Documents inedits, Vincent van Gogh et John
Russell," L'amour de Vart 19, no. 7 (September 1938), p.
284; idem, "Vincent van Gogh and John Russell: Some
Unknown Letters and Drawings," Burlington Magazine
73, no. 176 (September 1938), p. 104; G. F. Hartlaub,
Vincent van Gogh: RohrfederZeichnungen (Hamburg,
1948), vol. 9, pp. 9-10; O. Hover, Vincent van Gogh als
Zeichner (Emmendingen, 1948), n.p.; A.M. Ham-
macher, Van Gogh: Les grands maitres du dessin (Milan,I953), pi- (^2) 5; H. R. Hahnloser, "Werke aus der Samm-
lung Hahnloser," Du 16, no. ii (November 1956), pp. 8,
9 ; F. Elgar, Van Gogh (Paris, 1958), p. 119; R. Huyghe,
Vincent van Gogh (New York, 1958), pi. 120; H. Jedding,
Van Gogh (Munich, 1965), p. 12; G. Diehl, Van Gogh
(Munich, 1966), p. 16; J. J, Kusnetzow and P. V. Mel-
dovoy, eds., Van Gogh: Pisma (Leningrad and Moscow,
1966), p. 386; A.M. Hammacher, Genius and Disaster:
The Ten Creative Years of Vincent van Gogh (New York,
1968), pp. 62, 184; J. Leymarie, Quietaitvan Gogh? (Ge-
neva, 1968), p. 107; H. Keller, Vincent van Gogh: Diejahre
der Vollendung (Cologne, 1969), p. 37; J.-B. de la Faille,
The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings
(Amsterdam, 1970) p. 510, no. 1458; M. W. Roskill,
"Van Gogh's Exchanges of Work with Emile Bernard in
1888," Oud Holland 86, nos. 2-3 (1971), p. 171; J. Hul-
sker, ed., Van Gogh door Van Gogh: De brieven als com-
mentar op zijn werk (Amsterdam, 1973), p. 145; J. Hul-
sker, "The Intriguing Drawings of Aries," Vincent 3, no.
4 (1974), p. 25, n. 2; C. W. Millard, "A Chronology of
van Gogh's Drawings of 1888," Master Drawings 12, no.
2 (1974), p. 160; J. Hulsker, The Complete van Gogh: Paint-
ings, Drawings, Sketches (New York, 1977), no. 1536; B.
Bernard, ed., Vincent by Himself (London, 1985), p. 198.
AT THE VERY END OF JULY 1888, VAN GOGH WAS
engaged in painting a portrait of his close friend the
postal worker Joseph-Etienne Roulin seated next to a ta-
ble.^1 The painting was completed by August 6 and is now
in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (de la Faille 1970,
no. F 432). In the course of making this picture, van Gogh
decided also to paint a bust-length version, now in a pri-
vate collection, Detroit (de la Faille 1970, no. F 433).
Posed in the latter version with absolute frontality
238 DUTCH SCHOOL • VAN GOGH