A papermill

The present lot was executed between 1898 and 1904, when the artist frequently depicted the in- and exterior of a papermill near Vaassen. He visited this papermill when he was staying with his father and his sister Margo in nearby Apeldoorn. Tholen was inspired by the art of papermaking, which was a dying craft at that time and he depicted all phases of the production process (see A. de Jong, Willem Bastiaan Tholen, 1993, pp. 88/89)

A black chalk drawing of the same subject as the present lot is in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam.