1. John Tenniel, Stirring the pudding, engraved by Joseph Swain, in Punch 77 (27 December 1879), Christmas number, p. 295. Ill. 1369

. (t*1281). The print shows Punch making a plum pudding that bears the words quoted, ‘Good will to all’. The politicians around it are all keen to stir the pudding, which symbolizes England.

2. Saying, derived from Matt. 7:16.

3. Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, book i, chapter 20, 5: ‘As often as I have been among men, said one writer, I have returned less a man.’ Translation Aloysius Croft and Harold Bolton (Cyber Library of the International School of Theology). See Thomas a Kempis 1986, p. 24. The writer was in fact Seneca, who made the remark in his Epistulae morales vii, 3.

4. The complete saying ends as follows: ‘ze pisten een plas’ (WNT) (they pissed a pee). Also cited in letter 341.

5. Which 12 studies these are is not known. The watercolour Women miners (F 994 / JH 253

) probably belonged to this group.

6. A reference to the figures in the letter sketch.

7. The illustration was in Punch 28 (10 March 1855), p. 95, with the title “General Février” turned traitor and the legend: ‘“Russia has Two Generals in whom she can confide – Generals Janvier and Février.” – Speech of the late Emperor of Russia.’ The illustrator is John Leech and not Tenniel, as Van Gogh suggests. Whether Joseph Swain engraved the sheet is not known. The estate has a copy (t*1195). Ill. 1363

8. Dance of Death is a series of 41 woodcuts. Holbein’s drawings probably date from 1524-1525; the woodcuts are by Hans Lützelburger, before 1526. Van Gogh could have known works from the series through the article ‘Simulachres de la mort’ in Musée Universel 4 (1877), 2e semestre, pp. 180-181, in which L’enfant (The child) and Le pape (The pope) were included as examples (drawings E. Bocourt, engraving Auguste Louis Lepère). These are based on Der Bapst and Daß Iungkint (Basel, Kupferstichkabinett). Ill. 936

and Ill. 1991

. It is evident from letter 157 that he knew this volume of Musée Universel. Charles Blanc, Grammaire des arts du dessin also included two prints from the series: Adam travaillant la terre (Adam working the earth) and Le mercier (The haberdasher). Blanc 1870, p. 700. Cf. for the series O. Bätschmann and P. Griener, Hans Holbein. Cologne 1977, pp. 53-58.

9. Randolph Caldecott, Afternoon in King’s Road, in The Graphic 20 (13 December 1879), pp. 588-589, as an illustration to the article entitled ‘Brighton’. Ill. 669

10. C. Robinson, The Tay bridge as it appeared on Monday, Dec. 29, at ten o’clock, in The Illustrated London News 76 (3 January 1880), pp. 20-21. Ill. 1284

11. For Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret, A bird charmer in the Jardin des Tuileries

and Montbard, Algerian beggars at the door of a mosque

, see letter 275, nn. 40 and 41.

12. Alfred Emslie, The rising of the waters, engraved by Richard and Edward Taylor in The Illustrated London News 79 (17 December 1881), Supplement, p. 597. Ill. 814

13. Edmond and Jules de Goncourt reveal in Gavarni, l’homme et l’oeuvre: ‘He produced five of those watercolours in a day’ (Ces aquarelles, il enlevait cinq par jour). See Goncourt 1873, p. 326.

14. For the ‘Zuid-Hollandsch Koffiehuis’, see letter 214, n. 9.

15. For Charles Degroux, Saying grace , see letter 143, n. 16.

16. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1496-1497 (Milan, Santa Maria delle Grazie). There were various prints after this, such as a burin engraving by Auguste Boucher-Desnoyers and an engraving by Rafaelle Morghen (Ill. 1048