1. Van Gogh is referring to La confession d’un enfant du siècle (1836), in which Alfred de Musset portrayed the break between George Sand and himself. The theme of the novel is the moral weakness of the generation of that time.

2. The much talked-about affair between Sand and Musset ended in 1835. It was depicted in the work of both writers, especially in the roman à clef Elle et lui by Sand (1859), in which Musset (as Laurent de Fauvel) gives in to despair at the end. The rest of Musset’s life was marked by drinking, debauchery and little literary production. The relationship was also the subject of novels by other writers and led to a torrent of articles and prints. See Yves Lainey. ‘L’amour-passion. La liaison Musset-Sand’, in Musset ou la difficulté d’aimer. Paris 1978, chapter 5, pp. 69-115.

3. Van Gogh uses the French word ‘lâché’ here in the sense of ‘loose, hasty’.

4. Sand’s biographer Renee Winegarten confirms: ‘Once at Nohant, George plunged into work on a new novel’. See The double life of George Sand. Woman and writer. A critical biography. New York 1978, p. 155.