Technique 2

In this part of the section "Technique" those parts of the painting which are not, or barely not, visible with the naked eye, are made visible.
With a trick - taping a 50 mm lens the wrong way onto the lens of the foto camera - I've made macro foto's. These foto's came out very good, even the colors are pretty realistic.

Of course I would like to compare the things visible on the foto's with known works of Vincent van Gogh. At this point there rises a small problem though. I don't have any macro foto's of known works!
It crossed my mind to ask the Van Gogh Museum if I could lend some paintings over the weekend, but finally I rejected this option.......
So there's nothing left than to use reproductions from the books. Scan these and next hope for not too much loss in detail when enlarging them.
Also, in these reproductions the brushstrokes should be visible a bit to be of any use. You will understand that there aren't that many reproductions which comply to these demands.
Fortunately I found a reproduction which complies a bit to the above demands. This is "Girl in the woods" (JH182). This work is used often as a reference, despite the fact that I couldn't raise enough detail from it.

The underpainting

Only after examining the painting with the magnifier I found a lot of dark red/redbrown in the painting. Closer examination revealed that this color is probably used to obtain an underpainting.
Once I've heard that such an underpainting was used (especially in the middle ages) in thinly painted paintings to let the color 'shine through' in the following layer(s) of thin paint.
In the painting "Cottage with sticks" this effect probably wasn't meant to be obtained as the following layers of paint are applied very thick.
Also I had never heard nor read anything about underpaintings in the early works of Van Gogh. This wouldn't be logical either, because of Vincent's technique which is characterized by using thick paint. I have read though about underdrawings in pencil or charcoal, to depict the composition, but never about an inderpainting, let alone in the color red!
Is this finally an argument why "Cottage with sticks" is not the 'first study'?
In the following photo's, the dark-red/redbrown ground is clearly visible. Click the photo for a larger version.



Last week I bought the book "Vincent van Gogh Schilderijen" (written and published by the Van Gogh Museum), in which every painting from the early oeuvre, and in possession of the Van Gogh Museum, is analysed in detail.
In the description of "Cottages" JH395, a painting which is painted at most a few weeks after the 'first study', we read the following:

(I don't have the official english text, so translation is by me).

What catches the eye is that on the grounding a red-brown layer is applied. Van Gogh probably picked this up from older examples with a classic imprimatura, but different from the intention of it there, this underlying color plays no part in the final picture of "Cottages". The underpainting was probably only intended as an aid in his attempts to adjust the dark foreground, regarding tone, to the light sky. Now he was able to build up the picture right up from a mid-tone and wouldn't be confused by the white of the grounding.

From above text the following can be concluded:

1. Using the phrase "what catches the eye" indicates that adding a red-brown groundlayer is an unusual painting technique for Vincent van Gogh.
2. The Van Gogh Museum isn’t sure about the purpose of the red-brown ground layer (“probably"). This indicates that adding a red-brown ground layer isn’t part of any usual painting technique in that period. If contempararies of Van Gogh would have used this technique, then its purpose would've been known.

In other words: The presence of a red-brown groundlayer in “Cottages” is specific for Van Goghs painting technique during his stay in Drenthe.
The possibility that another painter used such a red-brown groundlayer is very unlikely, it seems to be an “invention” of Vincent himself.

Of the known Drenthe paintings only the painting “Cottages, JH395” is provided with a red-brown groundlayer.
It is certain that Van Gogh, after his arrival in Drenthe, painted at least three other studies before he painted “Cottages”.
None of these three paintings (1. A cottage with sticks, 2. A graveyard, 3. A red setting sun between birches) have surfaced yet. So it is not known whether these works also are provided with a red-brown groundlayer.
We do know though that Vincent was, during this period, in a phase of painting a “dark foreground against a light sky”. In view of Vincent's routine of practising and repeating in comparable styles and techniques it can’t be excluded, yet is is even likely, that the mentioned three works are provided with a red-brown groundlayer.

Conclusion:
The fact that the creator of “Cottage with sticks” has added a red-brown groundlayer, while this doesn’t belong to any standard painting technique, is quite a coincidence.
He invented this at the same time as Vincent van Gogh!
Unless both are the same person……


In first instance I thought to have found (finally) in the presence of a red underpainting an argument why it is unlikely that "Cottage with sticks" is the same painting as the 'first study' of Vincent van Gogh.
Now the contrary becomes true. The darkred/red-brown underpainting can be added to the ever growing list of pro-arguments.

The red/orange strokes"

Believe it or not, but bright colors like red/orange and bright green are found often in the painting "Cottage with sticks". With the bare eye those colors are hardly visible, but clearly with a magnifier.
(In the nearby future I will discuss those colors in the section "Palette/Colors").
Even in the 'dreary' painting "Cottage with sticks" the bright color red/orange is found. I photographed a stroke from the wall of the hut.
Many of these strokes can be found in "Girl in the woods".

In the above picture of JH182 the stroke looks rather reddish, but in real (I've checked it at the Kröller-Müller Museum) it is definitely red/orange. The dimensions of the strokes are approximately the same, the structure shows a lot of resemblance. (The stroke of JH182 is enlarged less because it would lose to much in sharpness and clarity).

The lower left corner

In the lower left corner of the painting a lot of red and green can be found. It looks like a dark red underpainting is present. This is the same with "Girl in the woods". In the next foto's the red base can be seen. Also the bright green is clearly visible.

In both paintings many spots can be found where the red ground and the bright green strokes are present. As with the foto of the orange stroke the foto of JH182 is less enlarged as the foto of "Cottage with sticks".

Short brushstrokes

In many of the early works (landscapes) of Vincent van Gogh the foreground is painted more or less the same way. Vincent uses short brushstrokes of different colors. They are applied in different directions and are rough of texture. As the distance to the subject increases the strokes are replaced by strokes with less texture and a less pronounced use of color. This way a feeling of depth is obtained.
Among others the soil of the forest in "Girl in the woods" (JH182) is painted this way. Also the foreground and the hut itself in the painting "Cottage with sticks" are painted using this technique.

These kind of (foreground) strokes are clearly visible in above fotos.
It has surprised me that this technique is barely visible with the naked eye in the painting "Cottage with sticks". Only after using the magnifier the brushstrokes became visible. Afterwards this seemed logical. The painting has hung over half a century in the room of a cigar smoker. The polution is enormeous. A gray layer makes the colors monotone and flattens the texture. This effect especially occurs with short brushstrokes having a lot of texture as the dirts covers the 'holes' up.
With modern foto editing software this gray layer can be removed a bit, so the original underlying colors become visible.
Beside the resemblance in form and texture of the brushstrokes also the resemblance in color (green and orange) is clearly visible in above photos.

The capricious light areas

In "Cottage with sticks" attention is drawn toward some areas where the paint is applied very thick and also shows a very capricious structure. These areas are lightly colored, almost white. Another thing which draws attention is that in these areas, contrary to the others, no traces of brush hairs can be found. The paint surface shows no texture and appears to be rounded.


Of course the question rises whether we can find this anywhere in the works of Vincent van Gogh.?
You've guessed the answer, it's getting boring.
Underneath two bad photo's (taken from scanned reproductions).
With some good intentions, that what I mean can be seen, I hope.



Please click the detail photo of "Cottage with sticks" for a direct comparision.

Cottage with sticks & Vincent van Gogh - by Carl & Ans 2003-2005.

The Minolta


Cottages

Lyonese brushes of pigs hair.
Vincent's cheap tools.