Vincent was an able, though difficult child and at the age of 16 he was apprenticed to Goupil et Cie, Paris, international art dealers, based in the Hague. Two of his uncles were already art dealers, and in due course brother Theo would follow the same path. Vincent was quite successful there and after some four years he was transferred to the company's London branch in 1873.

Although he seems to have enjoyed London, his personal life was rather less successful. Over the next two years he became disenchanted with his job, losing respect for the kind of work he was required to handle and after some 'toing and froing' between the London and Paris galleries he left the company in 1876.

Vincent returned to England where he briefly held teaching posts, but before long his family upbringing and a compulsion to do good led to his decision to train for the ministry. Thus, returning to the Netherlands he enrolled at Amsterdam university to study theology.

When, after fifteen miserable months it became clear to him that work was beyond his abilities he gave up his studies, but characteristically undeterred by yet another failure, after a brief spell of missionary training in Belgium, in 1878 he travelled to the Borinage in southern Belgium, living an impoverished existence as lay-preacher among the mining families in the village of Wasmes.

But his wholehearted commitment to the miners, even going so far as to give away his belongings to help them brought van Gogh into conflict with his superiors and he was soon dismissed. Determined to continue his work, he remained, though in dire penury         next