• J. Hidde Nijland , The Hague [1895-1928]
• Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht [loan Hidde Nijland 1904-1910]
• Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, inv nr 1027-28, cat van Gogh 1970, nr 28

Catalogues raisonnés:

• F868: Faille, Jacob Baart de la (1970) [1928] The Works of Vincent van Gogh. His Paintings and Drawings, Amsterdam: J.M. Meulenhoff, no. 868 .
• JH80 : Jan Hulsker (1980), The Complete Van Gogh, Oxford: Phaidon, no.  80.
  
• The file title ("dry rice") is quite wrong since the drawing was made in Etten, Brabant, Holland. The old man is simply adding dry twigs as kindle. Hulsker calls this one of the more successful of the early figures. The problem of perspective and proportion have been effectively solved, and the drawing carefully heightened in red and white (Hulsker p. 26).
• Letters 185 and 186 quoted below are of special interest as Vincent refers to Kee Vos Stricker, his cousin with whom he had become obsessively infatuated. He says her influence is needed to "soften" his drawing style. The letters are also amongst several around this time indicating that his father had considered committing him to a lunatic asylum the year before.
• Letters
• Letter 185 to Theo van Gogh. Etten, Friday, 18 November 1881. Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Van Gogh Museum. "I made another one yesterday, a peasant lad, in the morning, lighting the fire in the hearth where the kettle hangs, and another one, an old man laying dry twigs on the fire. I’m sorry to say that there’s still something stiff and severe in my drawings, and I think that she [Kee Vos Stricker], namely her influence will be needed to soften that."
• Letter 186 to Theo van Gogh. Etten, Friday, 18 November 1881. Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Van Gogh Museum. "Now, old chap, if you send me some ‘travelling money’ you’ll soon receive 3 drawings, ‘Mealtime’, ‘the fire-lighter’ and ‘an almsman’.[n.5 By the ‘almsman’ Van Gogh must mean Man sitting by the fireplace ...] So send the travelling money, if you can, for the journey won’t be completely in vain! If I have but 20 or 30 francs, at least I can see her face once again. And write a word or two, if you will, about that certain (terrible?) curse and that banishment, because I’d like so much to go on working quietly here, that’s what I’d like best. I need her and her influence to reach a higher artistic level, without her I am nothing, but with her there’s a chance. Living, working and loving are actually one and the same thing."

• L'Œuvre de Vincent van Gogh: catalogue raisonné, F868 
• The New Complete Van Gogh: Fully revised and enlarged edition of the Catalogue raisonné, JH80