Vincent gave painting lessons in this amateur artist's house. Compositions were made based on Hermans' collection of jugs, pots and bottles. Vincent also painted these still lifes. Some of the objects used have been preserved in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. At the beginning of 1884 Hermans commissioned Vincent to make a series of paintings to decorate his dining room.
Letter 453, Aug. 4, 1884:
"I made this for someone in Eindhoven who wants to decorate a dining room. He wanted to do it with compositions of various saints. I suggested he consider whether 6 scenes from the peasant life of the Meijerij - at the same time symbolizing the 4 seasons - might not whet the appetites of the good folk who would have to sit at table there more than the above-mentioned mystical characters. Well, the man warmed to the idea after visiting the studio. But he wants to paint those panels himself, and will that work?"
