Just came across a piece of machinery VvG had sketched
"Weaver" in Nuenen, 1883
Picture shows a hand loom, but as per a comment in the blog the scaling is such - 'weaver man smaller than the loom' https://www.vincentvangogh.org/weaver.jsp
I searched for a hand loom of today in India and the 'weaver man is smaller than the machine'!
interesting trivia, while textile weavers were invented in India / China in 4th Century, the power loom was invented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 stepping up the Industrial Revolution.
In 1803, there were just 2,400 power looms in all of Britain.
In 1833, there was as many as 100,000 in British textile factories
In 1883, Vincent Van Gogh paints the outdated hand loom - ?
I don't think it was an outdated loom at all. You have to remember, he was Dutch, like me, not English which you are basing things on.
He had gone back to Nuenen, where his parents lived at that time, particularly because he had an interest in weavers.
Big part of the inhabitants of Nuenen were weavers, even the children had to weave. It was a very poor living, barely making ends meet in spite of having to work very hard.
He wrote to his brother about that, how bad & unhealthy the people looked, pale and skinny etc.
The other part of the population of Nuenen were farmers who also didn't make a whole lot of money but were still better off than the weavers.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think that part of the province Brabant was quite poor. I know of other places that relied on fabric and shoe making and people there being very very poor. Even today you can tell with certain things.
He was born in the west of that province, in Zundert. My dad and his wife lived there for 35+ years, near the house he was born in. I never visited it :/ I do one day hope to visit the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to see his paintings.
Oh, that reformed church he did in Nuenen surprises me. My province Brabant is Catholic. I had no idea there'd even be a reformed church.
I must say I like his representation better than the real one, hihi. (I looked it up online).
BTW "Kee" is a very old-fashioned Dutch name, not in use anymore, pronounced "Kay".
And no need to thank me, I didn't do anything, you brought up this conversation and are being an inspiration :)