1. Antoine Philippe Furnée was due to leave for Batavia on 14 March 1884. It would seem obvious that this letter is a consequence of Van Gogh’s trip to The Hague in December, when he must have looked Furnée up.

2. Van Gogh was probably thinking here, among other things, of the prints of Félix Régamey, see letters 325 and 359.

3. Furnée was a surveyor.

4. It is not possible to say for sure which four watercolours of weavers Van Gogh is referring to here. Several have survived from this period (cf. letter 419, n. 1). The weaver in the third letter sketch most closely corresponds with the watercolour Weaver (F 1107 / JH 445); all the same some elements differ, such as the position of the front legs of the loom.

5. Van Gogh had probably finished the large, detailed and signed watercolour Timber sale (F 1113 / JH 438 ) in the meantime. It is the only one of this subject that is known. See cat. Amsterdam 1997, pp. 45-48, cat. no. 77.

6. This watercolour of a seamstress is not known.

7. This watercolour of a gardener is not known.

8. The colourman Hendrik Jan Furnée. The order (probably a separate list of paints and other materials) has not survived.

9. Van Gogh did not keep his word, since the bill had evidently still not been paid at the beginning of February. See letter 428.