Van Gogh discovery: Previously unknown drawings by Dutch master identified

This image released by Van Vlissingen Art Foundation and the Van Gogh Museum on Tuesday Jan. 16, 2018 shows a drawing by Vincent van Gogh titled The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry, dating to March 1886. The discovery has been confirmed following extensive research conducted by the Van Gogh Museum into the subject, style, technique, materials and provenance of the until now, unknown drawing in the collection of the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation. (Van Vlissingen Art Foundation via AP)

Experts in the Netherlands have identified two previously unknown drawings as works by Vincent van Gogh.

Both 1886 drawings are of Montmartre hill in Paris. On Tuesday, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam announced that“The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry,” which is owned by the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation, has been confirmed as a van Gogh.

Experts from the Van Gogh Museum analyzed the subject, style, technique and materials used on the drawing, and also researched its history.

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By establishing that “The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry” is van Gogh’s work, the Van Gogh Museum also confirmed that a similar drawing in the museum’s own collection is by the Dutch master. The museum’s “The Hill of Montmartre,” had previously been rejected as being from van Gogh’s hand.

This image released by the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation on Tuesday Jan. 16, 2018 shows a drawing titled The Hill of Montmartre (1886). The drawing is housed at the Van Gogh Museum and shares an unmistakable connection to the newly-discovered van Gogh drawing in terms of subject, size, style, technique and materials. (Vincent Van Gogh Foundation via AP)

“The two drawings are clearly from the same hand and stylistically, are reminiscent of van Gogh’s model drawings from early 1886, which he initially created in Antwerp and subsequently in Paris, in [French painter Fernand] Cormon’s studio,” explained Teio Meedendorp, senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, in a statement.

“The materials used are also identical and the subjects can be linked to paintings created by van Gogh on Montmartre in spring and early summer.”

Researchers found that “The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry” was once part of the collection belonging to Vincent and his brother Theo.

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File photo - Visitors look at a projection of Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat" at the "Van Gogh Alive" exhibition in Athens, Greece, November 10, 2017. Picture taken Nov. 10, 2017. (REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)

“It is fantastic news that two drawings can now definitively be added to van Gogh’s oeuvre,” said Van Gogh Museum Director Axel Rüger, in the statement.

Although best known for his vibrant oil paintings, there are more than 900 known drawings and five sketchbooks by van Gogh, according to the Van Gogh Museum, which houses approximately 500 drawings and the sketchbooks.

Prior to the two Montmartre works, the last drawing identified as a van Gogh was “Roman Youth (after Bargue after Bonnat),” an 1880 pencil drawing that was discovered in 2012.

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The post-impressionist painter, who is one of history’s most famous artists, died in 1890 after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. He was 37 years of age.

Both Montmartre drawings are part of an exhibition titled "Impressionism & Beyond. A Wonderful Journey," at the Singer Laren Museum near Amsterdam.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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