1. It is possible that Van Gogh wrote ‘22’ instead of ‘23’ (see also Date).

2. Van Gogh had visited Amsterdam on 18-19 March 1877.

3. This must have been Monday, 19 March, the morning after Theo’s visit.

4. Van Gogh had meanwhile decided that he wanted to be a clergyman, and possibilities were being investigated with regard to the preparation necessary for the study of theology.

5. The flower market on Singel between Koningsplein and Muntplein.

a. Meaning: ‘dennetakken’ (branches of pine).

6. Cf. Mr van Gogh’s remark in a letter to Theo: ‘Vincent told us that you had a good day in Amsterdam last Sunday’; and again later in the letter: ‘Vincent wrote with pleasure about your being together’, and went on immediately to say: ‘he still seems to be thinking about becoming a clergyman. But will he manage it? Is he capable of 7 years of continuous study of languages etc.? I’d rather that he simply wanted to remain in his present position. It does worry us’ (FR b2517, 24 March 1877).

7. Mr van Gogh was ill, and the doctor had advised him not to preach (FR b2514). The Rev. Jan Gerrit Kam, for whom Mr van Gogh acted as substitute in Leur, stood in for Mr van Gogh in Etten. From the family correspondence it appears that he did this often.

8. Luke 24:32.

9. Acts 26:29.

10. Evidently Mr van Gogh had expected his eldest son to carry on the tradition of having a clergyman in the family.

11. Matt. 24:35, Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33. This text could have been inscribed on the print Theo had sent; cf. the biblical passages on the Scheffer prints (letter 85, n. 7). It is also possible, however, that Van Gogh wrote the text on the print himself, as he was in the habit of doing (cf., for instance, letter 112, l. 35).

12. The Rev. Ottho Gerhard Heldring, a well-known preacher, founded several charitable institutions and also published devotional works. At least eight portraits of him are known, including a painting by August Allebé of 1877 and an engraving after this canvas made by Smeeton-Tilly, which appeared in the Nederlandsche Almanak of 1877 (The Hague, Iconographic Bureau).

13. Cf. Rhy. ps. 119:29.

14. Biblical, but especially frequent in the Old Testament.

15. Owing to the brochure De christen-werkman als zendeling (The Christian workman as a missionary) (1847) by the above-mentioned O.G. Heldring, the ‘Christian Workman’ had become a well-known concept. The Missionary Idea had arisen from the ambition to give the poor in the Dutch East Indies a better future. The Groningen theologians (to whose numbers Mr van Gogh belonged) were active in the Nederlands Zendelinggenootschap (Dutch Missionary Society). See Hommo Reenders, Alternatieve zending. Ottho Gerhard Heldring (1804-1876) en de verbreiding van het christendom in Nederlands-Indië. Dissertation Kampen. Kampen 1991, esp. pp. 103 ff. In the sermon Van Gogh had delivered in England (see letter 96), he had translated this concept literally as ‘Christian workman’.

16. Possibly an allusion to Matt. 9:17.

17. Ruth 1:16.

18. Cf. Phil. 3:10.

19. 2 Cor. 5:14.

20. 2 Cor. 6:10.

21. 1 Cor. 13:7-8.

22. Luke 24:29.

23. Cf. Luke 24:8.

24. Jer. 31:3.

25. Cf. Isa. 66:13.

26. John 14:16-17 and John 15:26.

27. Jer. 31:31.

28. 2 Cor. 6:17.

29. Cf. Jer. 31:33.

30. 2 Cor. 6:18.

31. Prov. 5:8.

32. Matt. 4:8-9.

33. Cf. 1 John 2:16-17. Van Gogh always writes ‘heerlijkheid’ (glory) where John wrote ‘begeerlijkheid’ (lust).

34. Cf. Luke 24:32.

35. Cf. Rev. 2:25.

36. Cf. Mark 4:14.

37. Cf. the saying ‘Doe wel en zie niet om’ (Do well and don’t look back); cf. Luke 9:62.

38. Rhy. ps. 42:3, Rhy. ps. 42:7 and Rhy. ps. 139:7.

39. Ps. 37:4.

40. Hymn 36:2 and Eph. 3:20.

41. Cf. Isa. 55:8-9.

42. Cf. Ps. 103:11.

43. Ps. 9:10 (in KJ Ps. 9:9).

44. Eccl. 11:1.