a. Variant of ‘Maakt korte metten’; also used in letters 239, 456, 507 and 516.

1. It is not certain which drawing of a fish-drying barn is being referred to here; see letter 233, n. 2 and the following note.

2. These may have been the drawings Fish-drying barn (F 940 / JH 154 ) and Carpenter’s yard and laundry (F 944 / JH 153 ), which Vincent was to send on Saturday, 3 June (see letter 235). The watercolour Fish-drying Barn (F 945 / JH 160 ) was not done until later; see letter 251.

3. Uncle Cor had Fish-drying Barn (F 938 / JH 152 ) and Fish-drying barn (F 946a / JH 151 ) (see letter 214).

4. Van Gogh uses the expression ‘mauvais coucheur’ several times. Strictly speaking, it means ‘hothead’, but he gives it various, cognate meanings such as ‘black sheep’, ‘undesirable or disagreeable person’, ‘awkward customer’ and ‘difficult character’. Cf. also letters 279, 280, 289, 432 and 474.

5. For the ‘Geel affair’, see letter 185.

6. One could be made a ward of court by relatives on the grounds of ‘foolishness, insanity or frenzy’ or of ‘wastefulness’. See Burgerlijk wetboek. Official edition. The Hague 1837, p. 107, art. 487. In the case of insanity, the ward of court could be cared for at home, or in a hospital or institution (pp. 111-112, art. 509). If the person had been made a ward of court because of wastefulness, one consequence could be confinement in a house of correction (p. 112, art. 511). See Carel Asser, Het Nederlandsch burgerlijk wetboek, vergeleken met het wetboek Napoleon. The Hague and Amsterdam 1838, p. 215, and Carel Asser, Handleiding tot de beoefening van het Nederlandsch burgerlijk recht. Eerste deel. Inleiding – Personenrecht, bewerkt door Paul Scholten. Zwolle 1912, p. 581. Cf. also letter 227.

7. The chapter ‘Van de vaderlijke magt’ (On paternal authority) began with the words: ‘A child, of whatever age, owes its parents honour and respect’. See Burgerlijk wetboek. The Hague 1837, p. 75, art. 353. Van Gogh mentions this law later in this letter.

8. Jean Léon Gérôme, The two augurs, 1861 (Auction Sotheby’s New York, 24 April 2003). See Ackerman 1986, pp. 210-211, cat. no. 133. Goupil published a photograph of Les deux augures in the series ‘Galerie photographique’, no. 115 (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 130 .

9. This ‘little drawing’ is not known. Cf. notes 1 and 2 above.

10. A ‘water and coals woman’ sold water, glowing coals and fuels.

11. Theo was in touch with Heyerdahl because in 1881-1884 he acted as his dealer. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 157. Theo had two versions of Sorrow that he could show to Heyerdahl, one of the first three that were made and a larger version; both are unknown (see letters 216 and 222).

12. Van Gogh had probably met the artist Charles Henri Pille while he was in Paris working for Goupil & Cie between May 1875 and March 1876.

13. In the Van Goghs’ estate there are 152 prints engraved by Joseph Swain; 149 of them date from before June 1882. Most come from Punch and The Illustrated London News.

14. Gustave Doré and [William] Blanchard Jerrold, London – A pilgrimage. London 1872. Cf. letter 101.

15. Van Gogh is referring here to Jozef or David Blok; see letter 199, n. 7.

16. The French engraver Ernest Philippe Boetzel published a series of Albums with engravings of Salon works. In Troisième et quatrième années Album Boetzel. Le Salon 1872-1873. (Paris. Typographie Lahure. 9 rue de Fleurus. Se vend chez M. Boetzel, 23 rue d’Aboukir), Boetzel refers to ‘the continuation of the Albums Boetzel 1869-1870, in which the principal works exhibited at the Salon over the last two years have been reproduced’. The albums were available at the Bureau of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts.

17. The Family Council (conseil de famille) was a body prescribed by French law (Code civil, art. 405 ff) and appointed ad hoc. It was presided over by a justice of the peace and consisted of six relatives of the minor (under the age of 21) or the ward of court. The council was in charge of appointing guardians, giving minors permission to marry or to manage assets, advising on making people wards of court and other matters. Although the system of family councils was included in the Civil Code only until 1838, it lived on in practice for much longer. See E.K.E. von Bóné, De familieraad in Nederland 1811-1838. Rotterdam 1992.

18. Van Gogh remembers Helena (Leen) Elisabeth Veerman from his earliest years in Zundert. In 1861 she left the Van Gogh family for Simonshaven, where she and her sister Maria became the maids of the Rev. Pieter Peaux, who was born in Etten (SAZ). Whether Theo found the comparison between Sien and Leen illuminating is open to doubt; he was four years old when she left.

19. Goupil published a number of photographs after Charles Zacharie Landelle, among them Les anges de la passion – la couronne d’épines (The angels of the passion – the crown of thorns) and Les anges de la passion – Le calice (The angels of the passion – The cup). The latter bears some resemblance to Van Gogh’s description (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 1030 . In both these works the plural ‘angels’ is used but Van Gogh talks about only one angel, so it may also be that he was thinking of Landelle’s L’ange de la douleur (The angel of sorrow), in which one angel is shown en profil beneath Christ’s Cross; her pose makes it seem as if she is kneeling (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 1917 .

b. Means: ‘om te besparen op de werkster’ (to save the money for a cleaner).

c. Means: ‘sterker geworden’ (got stronger).

20. For the fable of the ewe lamb see 2 Sam. 12:1-14.

21. Uncle Vincent and Aunt Cornelie lived at Princenhage.

22. ‘Those who are about to die salute you’; for this phrase from Suetonius’ (Claudius, 21), see letter 228, n. 24.