1. On this, see letters 225 and 227.

2. The painter Heyerdahl had been sympathetic towards Van Gogh’s work; see letter 222.

3. This must refer to the plan, known to Theo, to make something saleable within a year (see letter 205).

4. Probably Fish-drying barn (F 940 / JH 154 ) and Carpenter’s yard and laundry (F 944 / JH 153 ): cf. letter 246, n. 7.

5. Van Gogh was treated by C.A. Molenaar; see letter 237, n. 7.

6. Gen. 45:5.

7. Vincent mentions this location several times. See letter 11, n. 15. It was not true that the Laak mill – or another mill, such as the popular Oude Koren mill at Hoornbrug at the end of the Trekvliet or the Broeksloot mill – had disappeared. There were plans in 1882, however, to replace the Laak mill by a steam pumping station. These plans came to nothing, but modifications were made to the mill instead. It may be that Van Gogh saw this activity as a sign of impending demolition. Another possibility is that he means that the café was (temporarily) closed, possibly because of this work. At this time Van Gogh painted a watercolour of the underside of this mill (Archief Rijswijk and Archief Delftland; see also exhib. cat. The Hague 1990, pp. 34, 36-37).