Man with a Sack of Wood - by Vincent van Gogh

This drawing was created in year of 1881 at Ettn, Netherland. This is one of Van Gogh's earliest work. He was determined to be an artist and started practicing with pencil, chalk and paper.

Van Gogh had no trouble finding models in Etten and made scores of studies, many of them in a large format. Their quality varies, but they clearly show that he was making progress. To make things easier for himself, Van Gogh tended to show his figures from the side to avoid problems of perspective, such as the foreshortening of arms. But at the same time he did not hesitate to ask his models to take on complicated poses that made considerable demands on his skills.