Jan Theodoor Toorop was born on 20 December 1858 in Purworejo on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). At age eleven, he moved to the Netherlands. In 1880, Toorop enrolled at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. From 1882 to 1886, Toorop lived in Brussels, where he became closely associated with Les XX (Les Vingts), a group of progressive artists centered around James Ensor. In 1886, Toorop married the British Annie Hall, alternating their time between The Netherlands, Belgium, and England. In April 1890, they settled in the Dutch coastal town of Katwijk aan Zee. Despite his extended absence from Holland, Toorop was regarded the leading Dutch avant-garde artist of his time, with international connections and aspirations.

Upon his return to the Netherlands, Toorop cofounded the Haagse Kunstkring and organized the first retrospective exhibition of Vincent van Gogh, followed by a group show of Les XX in 1892. That same year, Sar Péladan visited The Netherlands and persuaded Toorop to join his Salon de la Rose+Croix. Marking Toorop’s transition into Symbolism, soon motifs of fatal women— symbols of sensuality and destruction—entered his emblematic vocabulary. Aiming to create spiritual art, Toorop was soon attracted to Catholicism, culminating in his baptism in 1905. His visit to the Eucharistic Congress in London in September 1908 propelled the idea for a new artistic innovation.

From 1909 onwards, Toorop abandoned oil painting, convinced that spiritual subjects demanded sober and minimalist measures. The Eucharist, his monumental Catholic-symbolist drawing, exemplifies this novel idea through its restrained use of color. Since 1903, Toorop had spent summers in the artist colony of Domburg, his paintings of the sea and local landmarks distinguished by their vivid color palette. Now, his focus shifted inspired by the devout Protestant population, appearing as his muses in The Eucharist. The purity of the village girls, dressed in their traditional Walcheren costumes, become the Protestant protagonists with their Catholic Savior. Six Zeeland girls, wearing traditional caps and tattered skirts, kneel meekly before Christ, who towers above them, raising the host and wine. Toorop’s personal connection to his faith is stressed by the seventh girl; his daughter Charley, recognizable by her signature hairribbon. Secular symbols are replaced by the Sacred Heart, a poignant expression of God’s infinite love and spiritual completeness.

Toorop’s selection of ten works for the 1912 Domburg group show offered an overview of his Zeeuwse period, including vibrant luminist landscapes and Catholic-Symbolist works like The Eucharist. His Catholic drawings were highly sought after at the time and The Eucharist initially priced at ƒ1200.

In the fall of 1908, the Toorop family relocated to Nijmegen, a bastion of Roman Catholicism in The Netherlands. There, they developed a close friendship with collector Anthony Nolet, first owner of The Eucharist. Nolet, a wine merchant, lived in a modern villa designed by Joseph Cuypers, son of the renowned architect of the Rijksmuseum.[1] The economic turmoil of the 1923 stock market crash forced Nolet to sell his impressive collection of 25 works by Toorop. The sale attracted significant attention in the press, with even Queen Wilhelmina attending the auction previews in Amsterdam.[2] As anticipated, the auction was a resounding success: The Eucharist sold for an astronomically ƒ5900. Possibly Toorop acquired The Eucharist at Nolet’s sale, as it later appeared in his estate auction following his death.

[1] Joseph Cuypers, working for his father Pierre until 1900, was also the architect of the Sint Bavo in Haarlem, for which Toorop was commissioned to provide the decorations. Victorine Hefting, Jan Toorop. Een kennismaking, Amsterdam 1989 p. 29

[2] “De Koningin in de hoofdstad. Verschillende bezoeken”, De Amsterdammer, 4 November 1924