The daughter of a local farmer, forced to moonlight in a brothel

on the Night of 23 December 1888 in the brothel, Arles, at 1 Rue du Bout the incident occurred, caught in police records and Newspapers and triggered widespread speculation over the next 130 years. In house of tolerance the artist Vincent van Gogh. He carried with him the severed piece of his own ear, wrapped in a white handkerchief. He was looking for a girl named Rachel. Finding it, he handed her the blanket with the words "cherish it as the Apple of his eye", after he went to his hotel, where he a few hours later was found lifeless and was taken to the hospital. What only versions were not made during this time about the identity of this mysterious Rachel. If she was a casual acquaintance, a lover, van Gogh, favorite prostitute, Gauguin and the reason for his duel with van Gogh (in one version, the van Gogh he cut off his ear but lost it during a duel with Gauguin from-за Rachel)?

And now, 130 years later, we can say for sure who was really Rachel. The light was a book researcher Bernadette Murphy (Bernadette Murphy) "van Gogh's Ear: the real story" in which in detail tells the story of this girl. Her name is Gabriel. The first mention of the fact that the real name Rachel – Gaby (short for Gabrielle), we find the article of 1936, quoting a policeman Alphonse Robert (Robert Alphonse), who arrived at the brothel just after the visit of van Gogh. The author of the book did not disclose the names Gaby out of respect for the relatives, who did not want it. However, the inquisitive journalists, the Art Newspaper did not fail to conduct its own investigation and did find out the name of the girl.

It was Gabriel Benlate (Gabrielle Berlatier) – the daughter of a local farmer from the village 10 km East from Arles. About it there is a record in the archives of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. It says 18-летняя Gabriel went to the Institute for treatment of rabies in January, 1888, she was bitten by the hand of an infected dog. Expensive vaccines saved the girl from death, but put it on the brink of poverty in her family. As a result, the Gabriel was forced to go to work in a brothel. Since she was too young actually to prostitution, she could not be involved. The author of the book "van Gogh's Ear: the real story" believes that Gaby was there only a servant.

There is also some evidence that previously, Gabriel worked as a cleaner at the Café de la Gare, where van Gogh was a regular. He was shot in the same house a room from may to September of 1888 and wrote to the interior of the Café de la Gare for the painting "Night cafe" (1888). So that the artist could well be familiar with the girl before she went to work in a brothel.

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources: artnet.com, theartnewspaper.com, artinvestment.ru