2. Three reading men are known from this period: Man reading a book (F 1001 / JH 278); Old man reading (F 966 / JH 280) and Man, standing, reading a book (F 1683 / JH 279

). The additional comment a little later in the letter that there is ‘a view through the window of snow-covered furrows’ makes it likely that it is the last one; this view may have been overdrawn at the top left.

3. Prayer before the meal (F 1002 / JH 281

), called ‘Le bénédicité’ (Saying grace) by Van Gogh.

4. The lithograph ‘At eternity’s gate’ (F 1662 / JH 268

), which Theo knew.

5. Cf. for this phrase, letter 288, n. 15.

6. By ‘Religions pass, but God remains’ Van Gogh means Jules Michelet’s ‘Les dieux passent, et non Dieu’, from La sorcière: Ed. Paul Viallaneix. Paris 1966, p. 285. In letter 300 he alludes to the immediate sequel in La sorcière, where he likewise gives the author as Hugo: see letter 300, n. 10. Cf. also Merlhès 1989, p. 108 (n. 1). Quoted again in letter 507, n. 2.

7. From the introduction to La mascarade humaine, in which Ludovic Halévy writes: ‘But it is not enough to search for the truth, we have to know how to search for it. Prevost-Paradol, talking one day about Madame Sand’s novels in the Journal des Débats, said that while it was legitimate and necessary to take one’s models from life, one had to be able to grasp what is not happening through what is happening ... If Gavarni is not merely a fine draughtsman, if he is a great painter of human behaviour, it is precisely because he has been able to grasp what is not happening through what is happening’ (Seulement, le vrai, il ne suffit pas de le chercher, il faut savoir le chercher. Prevost-Paradol, parlant un jour des romans de madame Sand dans le Journal des Débats, disait que, s’il était légitime et nécessaire de prendre ses modèles dans la nature, il fallait savoir atteindre ce qui ne passe à travers ce qui passe ... Si Gavarni n’est pas seulement un admirable dessinateur, s’il est un grand peintre des moeurs, c’est qu’il a su précisément atteindre ce qui ne passe pas à travers ce qui passe). Gavarni 1881, pp. 6-7. In letter 302 Van Gogh says he has this book. Quoted again in letter 480.

8. In her novel The mill on the Floss (1860) George Eliot wrote: ‘But they will believe me. I will confess everything. Lucy will believe me – she will forgive you, and – and – O, some good will come by clinging to the right.’ Ed. Leipzig 1860, ‘The great temptation’ (book 6), ‘Waking’ (chapter 14), vol. 2, p. 292.

9. For this ‘conscience’, see letter 133, n. 12.

10. Eliza Laurillard’s Dutch translation ‘Bij stillen nacht’ of ‘Oft, in the stilly night’ by Thomas Moore was included in Rust een weinig. Oudejaarsavond-gedachten. Amsterdam 1869, pp. 39-40. A second edition appeared in 1872. For the original, see Moore 1910, p. 238 (‘National Airs. Scotch Air’).