Vincent van Gogh made several drawings on 1 November 1883 during his day trip to Zweeloo, including one of the church in the village. In the foreground of the work is also an unknown shepherd with a flock of sheep. It is possible that now, almost 140 years later, the identity of the shepherd has been discovered in the Drenthe Archives.
Van Gogh made a sketch of the Reformed church in Zweeloo, because it reminded him of the painting L’Eglise de Greville by Jean-Francois Millet that he had seen in Paris. The Drenthe scene shows a shepherd returning from the field with his flock in front of the church. By chance, historian Albert Metselaar came across two names that could possibly be the shepherd: Geert Stevens and Willem Klingenberg. They were the only registered shepherds in Zweeloo on November 1, 1883.
Mason came across the names during an extensive research into shepherds. In March 1884 Stevens and Klingenberg had to draw lots for conscription. Their names can therefore be found in lottery registers. “Then I immediately thought of the drawing by Van Gogh. It was really a fluke,” says the Hoogeveen historian. “They were both in office from May 1883 to May 1884. It is certain that they were working a year during the period that Vincent van Gogh was in Zweeloo.”
After further research, Metselaar mentioned Klingenberg as a possible shepherd on the Van Gogh scene. “Willem Klingenberg had to draw lots in Zweeloo, but that was because his parents lived there. He himself lived in the municipality of Westerbork and then you do not walk past the church of Zweeloo with your flock. Then he would have been very lost.”
So what remains: Geert Stevens. “He did live in Zweeloo, which is not only clearly stated in the lottery register, but also in the population register,” says Metselaar. This source also shows that Stevens was born on August 1, 1864, he had blue eyes and an oval face and a striking scar above the nose. “That’s the beauty of those lottery registers, they contain a lot of information. They are real gems.”
According to Metselaar, Stevens is therefore the shepherd portrayed by Van Gogh, although he does have a caveat. “You cannot rule out that someone else will come up after all. Of course you never know whether there was another shepherd at that time. But for the time being there are only two and based on that you can say that Geert Stevens is most likely in the picture. brought by Van Gogh.”
In the autumn of 2023 it will be exactly 140 years ago that Van Gogh spent a few months in Drenthe. And then our province is completely dominated by the world-famous painter. Metselaar does have an idea for the Van Gogh year: “It would be nice if we could once again have a flock of sheep walk around the church in Zweeloo. Especially because the church still looks a lot like Van Gogh’s version. .”