''87 Hackford Road'' is an early drawing by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

of the house at that address, where he lived while working in London. It was only recognised as his work in 1973.

Background

Van Gogh lodged at the home of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie,Hackford RoadVauxhall Society
. at 87

Hackford Road Hackford Road is a road in Oval, Lambeth, south London, England. It runs north–south and is located between Clapham Road ( A3) to the west and Brixton Road ( A23) to the east. To the north is the Oval tube station. The artist Vincent van Gog ...

Stockwell Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The na ...

, London, England, from August 1873, while working at the art dealership Goupil & Co. He sketched the 1824-built, three-storey

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

terrace including the house, opposite

Durand School Durand may refer to: Places United States * Durand Township, Winnebago County, Illinois * Durand, Illinois, a village ** Durand High School (Illinois), a public high school * Durand, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Durand, Kansas, an ...

, using pencil with chalk highlights. He lettered the wall "Hackford Road" and the gate "".

Discovery

In 1973, while researching an article on van Gogh, the journalist Ken Wilkie visited Eugenie's granddaughter, Kathleen Maynard, at her home in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. While she was showing him photographs of the Loyers and their house, he noticed a dusty, tea- or coffee- stained drawing in the box in which the photographs were kept. Maynard recalled that her father said it had been drawn by "one of my aynard'sGrandmother's lodgers" and "it's been up in the attic as long as I can remember". Wilkie recognised it as depicting the house in Hackford Road, and being potentially Van Gogh's work. With Maynard's blessing, he took it to Amsterdam, where Dr Hans Jaffé, an authority on the artist working at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, authenticated it. The final paragraph of Jaffé's report read:Report by Dr Hans Jaffé, dated 14 December 1973, in Wilkie ''In search of Vincent''.

Display

Maynard lent the drawing to the

Van Gogh Museum The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on ...

in Amsterdam, for its reopening in 1973, and it remained in their care for over three decades, during which time it was exhibited there, and at the

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of her ...

and at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

in London. Maynard died in 2000, and in 2005 her daughter Anne Shaw requested its return; and so it remains in the possession of the original family.

References

{{Authority control (arts) Vincent van Gogh 19th-century drawings