1. The Rev. Lieuwe Steinfort conducted the 7.30 service in the Noorderkerk.

2. The ‘English church’ is the Reformed Church of the Presbyterians in the Begijnhof. On 21 October 1877, the Rev. William Macfarlane preached there at 10 a.m.

3. Matt. 6:31-34.

4. Matt. 6:26.

5. Matt. 6:28.

6. Henri François Alphonse Esquiros, L’Angleterre et la vie anglaise. 5 vols. Paris 1859-1869. The book describes the origins of the English landscape, and discusses British customs and aspects of English society.

7. It is not clear which excerpt from Breton Van Gogh is referring to here. Compare, in this context, letter 139, in which he asks for ‘The labourer’.

8. Van Gogh is probably referring here to the excerpt ‘Je vois d’ici une dame’ from Michelet’s L’amour, which is mentioned repeatedly in the correspondence; see letter 14, n. 19.

9. Uncle Vincent van Gogh, a brother of Mr van Gogh and Uncle Jan, lived in Princenhage.

10. Nothing more is known about this visit, which according to the continuation of the letter took place on Saturday, 13 and/or Sunday, 14 October; the surprise of Theo’s visit was probably all the greater because he had just been to stay with Vincent between 2 and 6 October (FR b2558, b2559 and b2562). These visits explain why nearly five weeks – a relatively long time – elapsed between the previous letter and this one.

11. An engraving after Ary Scheffer, The entombment of Christ (The holy women at the sepulchre): see letter 98, n. 14.

12. The motto of Anton Mauve, who is mentioned in the previous paragraph.

13. The estate contains two scrapbooks that belonged to Theo; see letter 111, n. 3.

14. Willem Frederik van Erp Taalman Kip, the Dutch Naval Minister and therefore Uncle Jan’s highest-ranking superior.

15. Adolphe Goupil, founder of the concern Goupil & Cie.

16. François Guizot, known as a historian and statesman; cf. letter 85, n. 22.

17. Jules Adolphe Goupil, A young citizen of the year v, 1873 (present whereabouts unknown). In addition to listing a photograph after this painting, in 1874 Goupil & Cie published the etching Un jeune citoyen de l’an v, engraved by Adolphe Martial (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 1854 and Ill. 1855 .

18. A young citizen of the year v was exhibited at the 1873 Salon; it was also on display at the exhibition held to mark the opening of Goupil’s London branch in May 1874. See exhib. cat. London 1992, p. 129, cat. no. 46.

19. The time of the French Revolution in 1789. ‘The year v’ in the title refers to the republican calendar.

20. Of The Girondists (present whereabouts unknown) by Paul Delaroche, Goupil’s list featured photographs and engravings in various sizes and price categories, including a large coloured engraving Les Girondins by Edouard Henri Girardet (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 759 .

21. Charles Louis Lucien Muller, The last victims of the terror (Versailles, Musée National de Château). Goupil produced the photogravure Les dernières victimes de la terreur and also published a photograph after the painting, which appeared in the ‘Carte-album’ series (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 1185 .

22. In addition to engravings and photographs after Delaroche’s 1851 painting of Marie-Antoinette leaving the revolutionary tribunal (present whereabouts unknown), in 1857 Goupil also published the engraving Marie-Antoinette sortant du tribunal révolutionnaire made after it by Alphonse François (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 760 . There were also prints in circulation of Marie-Antoinette as she appears in this depiction.

23. Jules Goupil likewise painted, among other things, In 1795, which was exhibited at the 1875 Salon.

24. A painting by Albert Anker set in that period is The ‘Länderkinder’. The war of 1798, 1876 (Neuchâtel, Musée d’art et d’histoire), which was on display at the 1877 Salon.

25. Jules Michelet treated the revolutionary period in his extensive Histoire de la Révolution française (1847-1853), also published as Histoire de la Révolution.

26. Van Gogh knew parts of the dramatized story of The French Revolution (1837) by Thomas Carlyle, probably through Histoire de la littérature anglaise by Hippolyte Taine (see letter 133).

27. Charles Dickens, A tale of two cities (1859), a historical novel about London and Paris at the time of the French Revolution.

28. John 11:25.

29. Matt. 9:24.

30. The cathedral of Notre-Dame stands on the Ile de la Cité, an island in the River Seine in the centre of Paris.

a. Read: ‘chrysantemums’ (chrysanthemums).

31. Biblical.

32. Biblical.

33. Vincent’s transcription displays only a few minor deviations from the source text:

Vuur onder sneeuw

De top van den Hekla is wit van sneeuw,

Maar ’t vuur in zijn binnenst’ gloeit eeuw aan eeuw;

O, Mensch! laat het wintren op ’t grijzend hoofd,

Als Liefde, Gods vlam, niet in ’t hart verdooft!

(Fire below snow

The top of the Hekla is white with snow,

But inside its fire through the ages doth glow;

O, Man! let winter deck thy greying head,

If Love, God’s flame, in the heart not be dead.)

Published in J.J.L. ten Kate, Uit den vreemde. Vertaalde poëzy (From abroad. Translated poetry). Leiden (A.W. Sijthoff), n.d., p. 70 (Amsterdam, Universiteitsbibliotheek). This volume does not say who wrote the original poem. The Hekla is a volcano in Iceland, famous for its frequent and lengthy eruptions.

34. Biblical.

35. Cf. Phil. 3:10.

36. This frequently quoted expression of Mr van Gogh could be derived from hymn 56:1 and hymn 56:9.

37. Matt. 6:25 and Luke 12:23.

38. Matt. 7:7 and Luke 11:9.

39. Jas. 1:5.

40. Johan van Gogh was Uncle Jan’s son. The portrait is unidentified.

41. 2 Cor. 6:10.