Lot n° 140
Estimation :
60000 - 80000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 204 800EUR
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890 - Lot 140
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890
)The Man with the Pipe (portrait of Doctor Gachet). 1890. Etching and drypoint. 148 x 180. The Rift 1664; Juliana Montfort 10. sanguine print. A very fine proof on "Arches" watermarked laid paper, annotated under the subject in pen and sepia ink by Dr. Gachet: "The man with the single pipe Eau forte / by Vincent Van Gogh" then initialed by him and stamped (Lugt 1195b). Annotation by a foreign hand at the foot: "Docteur Garchet" (sic). All margins [231 x 325].
Shortly after his arrival in Auvers-sur-Oise on May 20, 1890, Van Gogh placed himself under the protection of Dr. Gachet, who was recommended to him by Pissarro. Gachet collected works of art, mainly from his artist friends, and engraved etchings himself as an amateur, publishing his plates under the pseudonym Van Ryssel. On Sunday, May 25, Van Gogh was invited to join the family's Sunday lunch. In the next few weeks, the artist painted his famous Portrait of Doctor Gachet. It was at this time that Gachet showed him the technique of etching and intaglio printing:
"According to Gachet's son, after their Sunday lunch on May 25, Dr. Gachet gave Van Gogh a varnished copper plate and offered to help print it on the small hand press he used for making his own etchings. Within thirty minutes, Vincent had drawn a portrait of Dr. Gachet seated in his garden smoking a pipe. They immediately went to Gachet's studio, where the doctor guided his friend, who had never made an etching before, through the process of acid-biting and printing the plate. Experts believe Van Gogh and Gachet printed around fourteen impressions, experimenting at times with various colored inks and different methods of wiping the plate." (William H. Robinson, and Galina K. Olmsted, "Dr. Gachet (Man with a Pipe): Van Gogh's Final Print," in Van Gogh: New Research and Perspectives (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014).
There are 61 known proofs of this subject, of which only 14 were printed by the artist - the rest were printed by Gachet:
"Of the sixty-one known versions of Van Gogh's etching of the doctor, experts believe only fourteen were personally printed by the artist. Most of the others were apparently printed by Dr. Gachet or his son, who retained the plate after Van Gogh's death. [...] The popular title L'Homme à la Pipe (Man with a Pipe) was apparently invented by Gachet or his son and frequently appears among the handwritten notes on the verso. Many etchings are marked on the face by one of the three collector's stamps used by the Gachet family. The Van Gogh Museum retains nine impressions of this etching, all printed by the artist with Gachet's assistance. Five are printed in black ink, the others with an overall tone of yellow ochre, sanguine, greenish blue, light orange, and yellow brown." (Ibid.)
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue