File talk:Theo van Gogh in 1878.jpg

Who is depicted here?

Disagreement exists about who is depicted in this image. This image was taken from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, where it says it is a depiction of Vincent van Gogh and that it originates from the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The image is entirely different from the photograph that is generally considered to be Vincent van Gogh]. Both pictures are dated 1872, when Vincent was 19 years old. As for me, the generally accepted image of Vincent shows a much older man, and I think Vincents self portraits resemble much more the younger photo than the older photo. So, I asked the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam which image is correct.

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam answered that this image is a photograph of Theo van Gogh. (Theo was 15 at the time).

Jan Arkesteijn (talk) 10:08, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Stedelijk Museum replied that they do not posess this material anymore, because they transferred it to the Van Gogh Museum when it was founded. So if the latter states it is Theo, we have to assume it is so.

Jan Arkesteijn (talk) 11:32, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Correspondence with the Van Gogh Museum

Geachte heer Arkesteijn,
Hartelijk dank voor uw e-mail van 1 november j.l., die mij nu pas bereikt. Mijn excuses voor het late antwoord.
Het antwoord is eenvoudig: de jongeman op foto die u heeft is niet Vincent, maar Theo van Gogh.
Het Van Gogh Museum heeft  een afdruk van dezelfde een foto.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Fieke Pabst 
Documentaliste
Van Gogh Museum 
Postbus 75366 
1070 AJ Amsterdam 
www.vangoghmuseum.nl

Correspondence with the Stedelijk Museum

Geachte Heer Arkesteijn,
Onze fotoarchivaris deelt me zojuist mee dat alle negatieven, documentatie etc. 
rond de Van Gogh collectie in het Stedelijk Musuem naar het Van Gogh Museum is gegaan toen dat werd opgericht. 
(...)
Met vriendelijke groeten,

Drs. Michiel Nijhoff
Hoofd Bibliotheek/Collectieregistratie
Head of Library and Collection Registration
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Postbus 75082
1070 AB Amsterdam 

Who is this in the photo?

It is Theo. Theo is known from two other photos. Although he looks very much like Vincent, there are two differences. His nose is longer and has more pronounced bumps. His right eye (left of photo) droops downward at the outer corner. This is consistent with two other photos known photos of Theo.

The painted self-portraits of Vincent are not an accurate guide to the exact proportions of his face, regardless of how well they might express aspects of his general demeanour, personality amd emotions. The proportions of the face differ considerably from one picture to another, and (given that the brothers were very alike) it is even possible that some of Vincent's self-portraits might look more like Theo than they look like him. Amandajm (talk) 12:48, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

If this is Theo...

...then this image purportedly of Vincent looks a like like Theo: Earthsound (talk) 14:14, 29 September 2011 (UTC)