Farmhand

Nijland's striking and monumental portrait of a Zeeland farmhand seems to be one of the artist's few portrait drawings.Nijland was better known for landscapes and still lifes. It was exhibited 1909, the year that it was created.

Nijland was the son of J. Hidde Nijland, an art collector who owned, among other things, over 100 drawings by Van Gogh. The Met's drawing by Van Gogh depicting a woman pulling carrots (2025.233.1) was owned by Nijland's father and later inherited by his son Dirk. The artist's looked to Van Gogh for influence and to another significant Dutch artist of his day, Jan Toorop, who was a friend of his father.

During the first quarter or so of the 20th century, large detailed portraits such as this were produced by a number of artists in the Netherlands. Nijland creates an image that is at once portrait and icon of labor showing a man whose life experience can be seen in his skin. The lines of the man's withered face echo the striped pattern on his sleeves.