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RM01 Drawing with explanatory text. Possibly enclosed in a letter to Anna van Gogh. Amsterdam, after 7 July 1877.

metadata
No. RM01 (Brieven 1990 -, Complete Letters )
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Anna van Gogh
Date: Amsterdam, after 7 July 1877

Source status
Original manuscript

Location
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. d405 V/1973

Date
The drawing must have been made after 7 July 1877 (publication date of the print in Eigen Haard on which it is based); it may have been enclosed with the letter Vincent sent to Anna to congratulate her on the marriage proposal (see letter 121).

Additional
On this little sheet Van Gogh made a drawing of a small church in London and wrote a few sentences about the history of the building. The following is written on the back: ‘Vincent van Gogh / gekregen van zijn zuster Mevr van Houten 1914 / J. Nieweg’ (Vincent van Gogh, received from his sister, Mrs van Houten, in 1914. J. Nieweg). The last-mentioned is Jacob Nieweg, a clergyman and – since 1914 – a painter (having been influenced by H.P. Bremmer to take up painting), living in Amersfoort. This text might indicate that the drawing was enclosed in a letter to Anna, in which case the letter is not known. Vincent might also have given Anna the sheet in person. See cat. Amsterdam 1996, pp. 54-55, cat. no. 6.

Sketch

  1. Austin Friars Church, London (F Juv. XXV / JH -), drawing

original text
 1r:1 [sketch A]
Dit kerkje is een merkwaardig overblijfsel van eene oude Augustijner Stichting (Austin friars) minstens reeds dateerende van het jaar 1354 zoo niet reeds een 100 jaren vroeger. Reeds sedert 1550 ingevolge van eene vrijwillige schenking van Eduard VI houdt de Nederduitsche gemeente hier hare godsdienstigee zamenkomsten.1

translation
 1r:1
[sketch A]

This little church is a remarkable remnant of an old Augustinian foundation (Austin Friars) dating from at least 1354, if not from 100 years earlier. The Dutch congregation had held its religious services here since 1550, by virtue of a voluntary gift of Edward VI.1
notes
1. Van Gogh made the drawing of the church after an engraving by Burn Smeeton and Auguste Tilly in the article ‘De Ned. Herv. Kerk te Londen’ (‘The Dutch Reformed Church in London’) in Eigen Haard 3 (7 July 1877), no. 27, p. 216. Ill. 3120 . The text under the drawing was also taken from this article. See Ton de Brouwer, ‘Discovery sheds new light on origins of Van Gogh drawing’, www.vangoghmuseum.nl, Van Gogh Museum Articles, 2024.