3. Hippolyte Boulenger, The Josaphat brook in Schaarbeek, 1865-1867 (Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten). Ill. 623

. We do not know whether Van Gogh ever saw the original painting (in any event his doubt about the scene is justified: the painting is of a stream lined with poplars, not an avenue). If he did not, he could have known the work from two magazines that he used to see: there was an engraving after the work by Eugène Froment, under the title La vallée de Josaphat, in L’Art 1 (1875), facing p. 290; and in Musée Universel 4 (1876), pp. 72-73; cf. letter 141, nn. 6 -8 and 157, n. 17. Van Gogh and Van Rappard had walked together in this valley (see letters 293 and 605). In March 1884 Van Gogh drew a poplar avenue that has been linked to this work by Boulenger: Avenue of poplars (F 1239 / JH 464

). See cat. Amsterdam 1997, pp. 95-98, cat. no. 92.

4. All the poems that Van Gogh copied on the sheet enclosed with the letter appear in Coppée 1880.

5. This is probably the pen-and-ink drawing Avenue of poplars (F 1241 / JH 470), which once belonged to Van Rappard. Moreover, the motif of the double line of trees is consistent with both Boulenger’s painting and the drawing Avenue of poplars (F 1239 / JH 464

). Van Rappard had also been sent a small drawing of a loom and Parsonage garden (F 1133 / JH 485), see letter 437, nn. 1 and 3.

6. Van Gogh knew this fable by Ferdinand de Lesseps through the article in La Nouvelle Revue (see n. 9 below). The magazine was one of a package of journals to which the family in Nuenen subscribed (FR b2268).

In the fable the candle represents the woman and the moth is the man. When the moth merely singes his wings he complains. Meanwhile the candle burns down and, just before she is consumed, reproaches him: ‘You unjustly reproached me, while I loved you in silence. Now I die, adieu, fly to your other loves.’

7. The poem ‘Tristement’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 148-149. The most important differences are:

l. 79 vêtements ] vêtements noirs

l. 92 J’évoque ] J’invoque

The poem has been linked with Van Gogh’s painting Avenue of poplars in autumn (F 122 / JH 522

), which he was to make in October of this same year during a visit from Van Rappard. See cat. Amsterdam 1999, pp. 69-70 (n. 11).

8. The poem ‘A un souslieutenant’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 215-216.

9. Ferdinand de Lesseps in ‘Souvenirs d’un voyage au Soudan’ (Recollections of a journey in the Sudan), in La Nouvelle Revue 6 (vol. 26), janvier-février 1884, pp. 491-516 (quotation on pp. 494-495).

10. The poem ‘Le chien perdu’, from the collection Ecrit pendant le siège, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 85-86.

11. Van Gogh added a similar comment in the same place when he copied this poem in letter 430.

12. The poem ‘A l’ambulance’, from the collection Ecrit pendant le siège, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 87-89.

13. The poem ‘La soeur novice’, from the collection Les humbles, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 66-67. There is an anomaly:

215plants ] plans

14. The poem ‘Pour toujours’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 170-171.

15. The poem ‘Désir dans le spleen’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 230-232. The most important difference is:

l. 271 femme pensive au paupières ] fille blanche aux paupières

16. The poem ‘Douleur bercée’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 198-199.

17. The poem ‘Blessure rouverte’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, p. 200.

18. The poem ‘La première’, from the collection Le cahier rouge, in: Coppée 1880, pp. 221-222. A significant difference is:

l. 320 nous nous sommes quittés ] elle m’a quitté (we parted ] she left me)