1. In letter 434 Vincent responded to the question as to whether Theo should or should not continue his relationship with Marie, an issue that Theo had raised in a letter.

a. Means: ‘om zaken af te betalen’ (to pay things off).

2. Whereas Vincent reacts indignantly here, a year later, when Theo again suggested submitting Vincent’s work to the Salon, he was in favour of the idea: see letter 484.

3. For Félix Buhot, who was an engraver for Goupil & Cie, and for the sending of magazines, see letters 280 ff.

4. This ‘previous letter’ on selling work is letter 432.

5. Van Gogh added ‘But ... serious’ (‘Doch … meenens’) later.

6. The large sum paid for The angelus , 1857-1859 (Paris, Musée d’Orsay) had caused raised eyebrows: see letter 17, n. 3.

7. In 1858 Goupil began publishing photographic reproductions after the paintings of Paul Delaroche. Exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 69. Brochart's first name was Constant-Joseph.

b. Read: ‘Dit voor wat betreft’ (cf. the English ‘so much for’; and the French ‘autant pour’).

c. Read: ‘Zult vinden’ (will find) (transferred contraction of ‘zal’ (shall) in l. 137).

d. Means: ‘daarmee in overeenstemming’ (accordingly).

e. Means: ‘Achteraf, te laat’ (after the event, too late).

8. After his return from Paris in 1871 Jacob Maris sold his work exclusively through Goupil in The Hague, where H.G. Tersteeg was the manager. Maris is said to have been unhappy later in his life with the way Tersteeg ‘pushed’ him. See B. Boon, ‘Jacob Maris en kunsthandel Goupil’, Jong Holland 15-3 (1999), pp. 15-27, esp. 23, and Stolwijk in exhib. cat. Haarlem 2003, pp. 57-67. In the 1871-1887 period Mauve was one of the best-selling artists in the Goupil stable in The Hague. See Stolwijk 1998, p. 211 (table 12).

9. This phrase has not been found in the Corot literature; it was probably passed on by word of mouth.

10. See for the character of Prudhomme in Monnier’s Scènes populaires dessinées à la plume, Grandeur et décadence de M. Joseph Prudhomme, Mémoires de Monsieur Joseph Prudhomme, and Croquis à la plume. letter 296, n. 3.