1. Mr van Gogh must have visited Vincent, who was taking lessons from Mauve in painting in both oils and watercolours, some time between 27 November and about 21 December 1881.

2. Van Gogh is referring to his letter of 18 November 1881 (letter 186).

a. Read: ‘tijdens welke scènes echter’ (during which scenes, however; translated here as ‘when’).

b. Read: ‘verzwijg’ (keep silent about, refrain from saying).

3. There are several drawings from November-December in which Van Gogh used the drawing materials mentioned: Woman sewing (F 886 / JH 69), Mother by a cradle and a child sitting on the floor (F 1070 / JH 74) and Girl with a black cap sitting on the ground (F 873 / JH 79).

4. The Van Gogh estate contains 22 prints after the work of Hubert von Herkomer; they all came from The Graphic and date from the period 1872-1879.

5. Three works by Francis Montague Holl have been preserved in Van Gogh’s estate; they all came from The Graphic (1872-1873).

6. Van Gogh’s estate contains three works by Frederick Walker: two from The Graphic (1871 and 1877) and one from The Illustrated London News (1875).

7. There were two booksellers in The Hague by the name of Blok: Jozef Blok, known as the ‘open-air librarian of the Binnenhof’, who had a stall in Grote Markt and a book storeroom at Herderstraat 10, and his brother, David Blok, who had a shop at Stationsweg 3. Jozef – who sold collectors’ items, magazines and literary works – was well known among artists. In November 1882 Van Gogh made a portrait drawing of him (F 993 / JH 254 ) (see letter 280). Regarding the Blok brothers, see J.E. Heijbroek, ‘Bij de nieuwe voorplaat’, Boekenwereld. Tijdschrift voor Boek en Prent 10-1 (1993), pp. 23-28.

8. Houseless and hungry by Samuel Luke Fildes appeared in The Graphic 1 (4 December 1869), p. 9 and was reprinted in The Graphic Portfolio, 1877. Van Gogh’s copy is still extant. Ill. 1905 . (t*151).

9. In his letters Van Gogh mentions ‘Irish emigrants’ by Francis Montague Holl three times and ‘Emigrants’ once (in the present letter, as well as in letters 249, 311 and 307). An engraving called ‘Gone’ – Euston station. Departure of emigrants, 9.15 p.m. Train for Liverpool, September, 1875, appeared in The Graphic 13 (19 February 1876), pp. 180-181, but neither its title nor the accompanying commentary indicates that these emigrants are bound for Ireland. Ill. 1906 .

The Illustrated London News 65 (5 September 1874), pp. 220-221, published an engraving titled Irish emigrants leaving Queenstown harbour (Ill. 1907 ). Even though it was made by Michael FitzGerald, Van Gogh could nevertheless have had this print in mind (perhaps in addition to the above-mentioned work by Holl). Indeed, in a later letter he compares this print to ‘the women reading the Bible by Rembrandt’ (letter 249), and he writes: ‘The woman I wrote to you about is, as a type, rather like the central figure in that print, namely the mother with her child on her arm’ (letter 311). Because both Rembrandt’s Holy Family in the evening (see letter 37) and FitzGerald’s engraving show the woman with the baby – in the centre of the print – sitting and not standing, and because Van Gogh speaks specifically of ‘the central figure’ (in Holl’s’ ‘Gone’ there can be no mistaking this figure), the print in question is most likely Irish emigrants leaving Queenstown harbour. About a year later Van Gogh drew Woman with a baby on her lap (F 1066 / JH 322) who, like FitzGerald’s main figure, is a seated woman wearing a cap on her head (see cat. Otterlo 2003, p. 188).

10. Frederick Walker, The old gate, in The Graphic 13 (29 January 1876), Supplement, between pp. 102-103. Ill. 1908 .

11. Francis Montague Holl, The school board elections – A board school appeared in The Graphic 14 (2 December 1876), pp. 544-545. Ill. 1909 .

12. An engraving with the title ‘The invalids’ is not known. Van Gogh is very probably referring to one of the prints relating to Hubert von Herkomer’s painting The last muster (Sunday at Chelsea hospital / Chelsea pensioners), 1875 (Port Sunlight, Lady Lever Art Gallery). A print titled Sunday at Chelsea hospital, after a drawing which Herkomer later used for the painting, was published in The Graphic 3 (18 February 1871), p. 152. There is an impression in Van Gogh's estate. Ill. 171 (t*163). An engraving of a detail from the painting, depicting two men and titled The last muster. Sunday at the Royal hospital, Chelsea, appeared in The Graphic 11 (15 May 1875), Supplement, between pp. 480-481. Ill. 1910 (cf. also letters 303 and 304).

13. See letter 172 for the Etten diggers and people in the potato field.

14. A drawing with the motif of the letter sketch Man putting potatoes in a sack (F - / JH 60), which Vincent had sent to Theo in October 1881 (letter 175).

15. At The Hague artists’ society Pulchri Studio, located in the ‘Hofje van Nieuwkoop’ on Prinsengracht, artists drew from dressed models. The society also organized art viewings and mounted exhibitions. At first there were two categories of membership: ‘working’ and ‘art-loving’; only the ‘working’ members were allowed to take part in life-drawing. The annual contribution was either 10 guilders or 5 guilders, depending on the type of membership. Later on the categories were expanded to include ‘special members’ and ‘outside members’. Mauve was a member of the board from 1878 to 1883. See S. de Bodt, ‘Pulchri Studio. Het imago van een kunstenaarsvereniging in de negentiende eeuw’, De Negentiende Eeuw 14 (1990), pp. 24-42, espec. 28-29; and Van Kalmthout 1998, pp. 336-342. See also letter 202, n. 1.