Vincent van Gogh's work has been recognized as a pencil sketch of a broken old man with his head in his hands, appearing very tired.

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam announced on Thursday that the artwork was verified as being by the artist himself. Teio Meedendorp, a senior researcher at the museum, described the find as "spectacular," shedding insight on Van Gogh's early years as an artist in The Hague, which are less well-known than his time in Paris or the south of France.

The artwork looks a lot like Worn Out, a popular piece in the museum's collection. This is an older version of the same subject, titled Study for Worn Out.

Van Gogh was 29 and two years into his career as an artist when he drew it in late 1882. He was sketching as many people studies as he could, often enlisting models from the Dutch Reformed Old Men's and Women's House for a little price and some coffee.

These models were dubbed "orphan men" and "orphan women" by him. The guy in the newly found drawing, Adrianus Jacobus Zuyderland, was a favorite since he was the only one of these models whose name was known.

Van Gogh sketched it on coarse watercolour paper with a thick carpenter's pencil. The sheet is 48.8cm by 30cm in size. He completed the sketch by smearing bread pellets on the sitter's lighter portions of clothing.

He next applied a fixative made from milk and water to the drawing, which darkened and matted the pencil.

The artwork has been dated to the end of November 1882 by experts, who have linked it to a number of other works created around the period. In a letter to his brother Theo, he discussed the sketches.

“I drew two figures of an elderly man with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands today and yesterday... Maybe I'll make a lithograph of it. What a handsome picture an elderly laboring guy with his bald head creates in his tattered bombazine suit.”

Van Gogh had aspirations to work as a magazine artist at the time, so that he could support himself and be less reliant on his brother.

Since about 1910, the artwork has been in a private collection in the Netherlands. It will be on exhibit at the museum until January 2nd, following which it will be returned to its owner.

In a typical year, the museum receives up to 300 requests from individuals who believe they possess a van Gogh that has gone missing. Only a small percentage of them make it to the museum, and even fewer are discovered to be genuine.

The finding, according to Meedendorp, was thrilling. “I've spent a significant portion of my life working with Van Gogh, particularly the drawings, and it's always a joy to hold them in your hands and examine them up close.

These sketches from The Hague are really lovely to look at; you can clearly see Vincent's creative process... the way he holds the pencil.

“Whenever you see drawings like this up close, you want to pick up a pencil and start drawing yourself.”

Thanks to Mark Brown at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.