The life of Groningen-born Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834–1909) was deeply intertwined with that of her husband, Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831–1915), in many respects: as artists, collectors and central figures in the art world of The Hague. Yet Mesdag-van Houten charted her own course by choosing different subject matter and building up a network of women in the arts. As a critic noted in 1904, on the occasion of her seventieth birthday exhibition: ‘Although she is the spouse of the renowned marine painter, she does not wish to be seen in the art world as Mesdag’s wife, but as an independent artistic force – an art amazon – pursuing her own path and seeking recognition for her unique vision.’
Still Lifes
Initially, Mesdag-van Houten primarily painted landscapes, often in a broad atmospheric style using muted tones . However, by the mid-1870s she also began focusing on still lifes of flowers or fruit, such as Still Life with Pears and Grapes. At the time, still life painting was considered a suitable art form for female artists. It could be done indoors, then regarded as the domain of women; moreover, the home provided the tranquillity and space needed to capture objects meticulously, in fine detail. Contemporary artists and friends of Mesdag-van Houten’s such as Margaretha Roosenboom (1843–1896) and Gerardina Jacoba van de Sande Bakhuyzen (1826–1895) were highly adept in this genre. However, Mesdag-van Houten took a different approach. She used bolder colours and more pronounced forms, aligning with the style she favoured for her landscapes.
Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, In the Veluwe: the Heath of Bennekom, in or before 1891, oil on canvas, 101 × 125.5 cm, The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
This modern slant on still life painting was noticed and praised in reviews when she began exhibiting her work. At her first participation in the 1877 exhibition of the Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij – the Dutch Drawing Society that her husband had helped establish the year before – she received immediate acclaim: ‘Greater strength and splendour of colour, deeper, riper, and richer tones are hardly achievable in watercolour; in this respect, Mme Mesdag unrelentingly outshines all her colleagues in the field of flowers and fruits, whose work I am familiar with. There is unparalleled life in this still life.’ From that moment on, she increasingly worked with watercolour on paper, perhaps becoming even more skilled in this medium than in oil paint. Particularly, her use of colour is fully realized in her watercolours, as seen in her gouache Still Life with Pears and Grapes. In addition to such high praise, there were also less favourable reviews of her work, mostly critiquing her unbalanced compositions and lack of structural clarity.
Pears and Grapes
What immediately catches the eye in Still Life with Pears and Grapes are the rich, vibrant colours – yellow, red and green – for which Mesdag-van Houten was so praised. The shade of green seen in the background is one she also used frequently in her landscapes, giving her watercolour work a distinctive and recognizable character. Equally striking are the deep reds and yellows. By using only opaque watercolour (gouache) rather than transparent watercolour, she was able to build up the composition from dark to light, adding the highlights on the fruit as a last touch in an opaque, light colour.
The composition features pears and grapes as the main motif, as indicated by the inscription ‘Poires et raisin’ on the verso. They are scattered on and around a plate. In between is a tangle of plants, including dried poppies, ivy and a cluster of red berries. The rough, grey ground and green background create the impression that the still life is displayed on a stone balustrade, with a green expanse in the distance.
The large sheet of paper has a strikingly elongated format. It is clear that Mesdag-van Houten cut the gouache to this size only after completing the artwork, as the representation extends all the way to the edges and the trimmed borders are entirely clean. There is a tiny hole at the top centre of the sheet, indicating that it was once pinned up with a single tack.
The blue-and-white glazed plate with a brown rim on which the fruit rests resembles the type of ceramics that the Mesdags collected. However, no specific piece from the couple’s collection can be definitively identified as the one depicted here; Mesdag-van Houten painted it too loosely for that. It could well be a plate like an eighteenth-century Delft blue one in The Mesdag Collection . However, the decoration of that example is not an exact match for that seen in the gouache. Other still lifes by Mesdag-van Houten also include decorative objects from the couple’s personal collection, such as a Chinese ritual vessel decorated with a shishi (mythical lion-dog) and elephants that is part of the museum’s collection .
Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, Still Life with a Chinese Vase, undated, oil on canvas, 102.3 × 83.5 cm, Museum Panorama Mesdag, The Hague
The Van Goghs and the Mesdags
There are clues as to when this gouache entered the Van Gogh brothers’ collection. Mesdag-van Houten sold it to the Goupil art dealership in The Hague in April 1882. The work remained there, unsold, until April 1887, when it was transferred to the French branch of Goupil: that is Boussod, Valadon & Cie, where Theo van Gogh (1857–1891) worked. In May of that year the piece was included in an auction of the gallery’s inventory but did not find a buyer. In mid-July 1887, Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) wrote to Theo from Paris: ‘Someone brought in a watercolour by Mrs Mesdag, which I find very beautiful.’ At the time, Vincent was staying in their shared apartment in Paris while Theo was visiting the Netherlands. It is quite likely that Vincent was referring to this work, as it would still have been in Paris at that time. It is within the realm of possibility that the brothers decided to purchase it for their collection around this period. Interestingly, this gouache does not appear in the various inventories of Theo van Gogh and his wife Jo van Gogh-Bonger (1862–1925). However, there is mention of a ‘watercolour’ by ‘H.W. Mesdag’, which was not or is no longer part of the collection. This discrepancy suggests there may have been a mix-up in the records.
Vincent van Gogh remarked positively on Mesdag-van Houten’s work one other time in his letters. This was in connection with the sixth exhibition of the Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij, in 1881: ‘If the drawing by Mrs Mesdag which you wrote about is yellow roses on moss-covered ground, then I saw it at the exhibition and indeed, it’s very beautiful and very artistic.’ Van Gogh and the Mesdags most likely crossed paths during this period, perhaps at the Hague artists’ association Pulchri Studio, at an exhibition or an art dealership, or in the studio of their mutual acquaintance Anton Mauve (1838–1888).
Mesdag-van Houten’s more famous husband, the marine painter Hendrik Willem Mesdag, on the other hand, appears more often in the brothers’ correspondence – albeit not always in a positive light. In 1882, writing about the art world in The Hague, Vincent van Gogh observed: ‘Here in The Hague – there are clever, great men, I readily acknowledge that, but in many respects what a wretched state of affairs it is. What intriguing, quarrelling, envy. And in the personalities of the artists getting rich, who with Mesdag at their head set the tone, also unmistakable signs of material greatness replacing moral greatness.’ A letter from Mesdag to Theo van Gogh from the previous year reveals that Mesdag had turned down an offer to purchase a painting by François Daubigny (1817–1878). In July 1890, Theo had an appointment with Mesdag to discuss potential new sales. The outcome is unclear, but it certainly did not lead to any direct sales.
The Frame
After Theo van Gogh’s death in 1891, his wife Jo van Gogh-Bonger safeguarded this gouache by Mesdag-van Houten. There is no mention of either Mesdag-van Houten or her husband in Van Gogh-Bonger’s diaries or letters. Similarly, no evidence of an acquaintanceship with Van Gogh-Bonger is found in Mesdag-van Houten’s correspondence. The back of the sheet bears the following annotation: ‘to be framed in narrow white lacquer frame / Dutch paper / white English passepartout 9 + 9 + 9 × 10 cm / to be delivered no later than Tuesday at Koninginneweg 77’. The address 77 Koninginneweg in Amsterdam was that of Van Gogh-Bonger from September 1904 until her death in 1925. This order may have been for an exhibition or to hang the gouache in her home. However, the work cannot be identified in any photographs of her interior at the address in Amsterdam, nor of her second home in Laren, where her son Vincent Willem (1890–1978) later moved.
Van Gogh-Bonger often chose such white frames, in keeping with her brother-in-law Vincent van Gogh’s preference for some of his paintings. However, this style was less to Mesdag-van Houten’s liking. Her own pieces, which she had framed for her Museum Mesdag (now The Mesdag Collection), all have gilded frames, consistent with the rest of the works in the museum. The white frame made for Still Life with Pears and Grapes is no longer in the Van Gogh Museum collection. Therefore, when the work is displayed today, it is in a dark, wooden, exhibition frame – a balanced compromise between the taste of the artist and that of the owner.
Renske Suijver
May 2025