82 6534 Gogh Vincent van 1853 1890 formerly attrib
- The canvas was possibly trimmed in upper margin (likely to fit the current strainer) and is partly sl. deformed with some damages around the corroded tacks on the sides; however the painting kept its original appearance. The paint is in moderate, fragile condition with a few small losses of paint mainly in the upper margin. The cow itself is in quite good condition, with hardly any paint loss nor retouches or overpaint present.
= J. Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh, no.389 (Amst., 1996). J.-B. de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, no.F1c (Amst., 1970): "Provenance: Ed. van Biema, The Hague (according to him formerly in the collection of [art dealer] C. Mouwen jr, Breda and M. Janssen, Breda [shop owner across the street from Mouwen]); F.P. Hirschel, Amsterdam; Franz Heinz, Locham near Munich; Private collection, New York Sale Parke-Bernet, 11 November 1959, [lot] 41" (p.1). A photocopy of the Parke-Bernet sale catalogue (with an illustration of this painting) is supplied with the lot, together with a photocopy of the manuscript certificate of authenticity by De la Faille (referred to in the description of lot 41: La Vache). William Lustgarten bought the painting in the Parke-Bernet sale of 1959 and after that its whereabouts were unknown until 2023, when the present owner bought it at an online auction at Catawiki.
The current owner has had the painting examined by the Van Gogh Museum on art historical and technical grounds. The report of this examination, which is available for potential buyers, casts doubt on the authenticity of the work, even though it was long considered to be a genuine Van Gogh for (partly unverified) assumptions concerning its provenance. The main art historical argument for their doubt is that, together with one other similar painting of a lying cow attributed to Van Gogh from the same early period, it stands alone in his oeuvre. Regarding the technical argument, the researchers state that the painting shows little material similarity with the few Van Gogh paintings from those early years that they have examined. As the research team states, the only painting of a cow with which they could compare this painting was examined by them in 2000. On the basis of that examination, the painting was sold as a genuine Van Gogh by K-Auctions in Seoul in 2008 for just above 2.000.000 USD. The research team also states that only a few other paintings from Van Goghs early "Haagse periode" have undergone such a thorough study as the present painting. So even though they cannot with 100% certainty declassify it as a work by Van Gogh, the Van Gogh Museum research team considers it to be an artwork not by the hand of Van Gogh.
SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE CIII.