1. The Pilgrim Fathers were English Puritans; in 1620 they emigrated to North America in the Mayflower and settled in Massachusetts.

2. Van Gogh based his observations about relating a person’s temperament to his physiognomy on what he had read of Lavater’s ideas and writings in Alexandre Ysabeau, Lavater et Gall. Physiognomonie et phrénologie rendues intelligibles pour tout le monde, Paris 1862 (see letter 160, n. 8). In it we read: ‘Noticeably square foreheads usually denote a firm, confident character, combined with a high degree of caution. In the physiognomic study of the forehead, any straight form indicates strength, rigidity, and at the same time, intelligence’ (Les fronts sensiblement carrés annoncent en général un caractère ferme et sûr, allié à beaucoup de prudence. Dans l’étude physiognomique du front, toute forme droite indique la force, la roideur, et en même temps l’intelligence); quoted in exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1988, p. 172, n. 2.

3. Van Gogh added the passage about Boughton’s painting (ll. 38-43) later. The figure he describes is probably the man with the helmet and sharp profile, sitting on a rock, in Boughton’s Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1869 (Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery). Ill. 615 . Leistra, however, suggested that Van Gogh was referring to the young man in the painting New English Pilgrims waiting for relief ship. See Leistra 1987, pp. 28-30.

4. Gen. 25:24-34. Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebecca, was tricked out of his birthright by his younger twin Jacob.

5. Carlyle restored Cromwell, who had become idealized over time, to his rightful position as a historical figure whose words and deeds should be considered critically. Oliver Cromwell’s letters and speeches bear witness to his character – Carlyle calls him ‘a man of truths’, ‘an earnest man’ and ‘a noble figure’, and writes: ‘We discover features of an Intelligence, and Soul of a Man, greater than any speech’. See Carlyle 1846, vol. 1, pp. 19, 100, 102; and cf. letter 211, n. 14.

6. After ‘yourself’ Van Gogh wrote ‘It is so almighty tedious’ (‘Het is zoo magtig vervelend’), but he crossed it out.

7. Cf. for this formulation letter 35, n. 2.

8. Cf. Rom. 11:29.

9. See for this phrase: letter 288, n. 15.

10. Cf. Luke 9:62.

11. Cf. 1 Cor. 10:25.

12. Jules Michelet, Du prêtre, de la femme, de la famille. 3th ed. Paris 1845, p. 14.

13. Sien Hoornik.