1. At this time, Easter Monday was regarded as a ‘Sunday’, a Christian holiday on which all sorts of festivities were organized. See J. ter Gouw, De volksvermaken. Haarlem 1871, pp. 205-218.

2. This enclosed sketch of a man’s head is not known, nor is the painting after which it was made. It is therefore no longer possible to identify which of the surviving heads this is.

3. Van Gogh painted Basket of apples (F 99 / JH 930

) over the painting after which the enclosed sketch Honesty in a vase (F - / JH 726) was done (see n. 5).

4. Theo had taken Honesty in a vase (F 76 / JH 542

) with him; it measures 42.5 x 32.5 cm; see letter 489, n. 4.

5. The still life with honesty, tobacco pouch and a pipe can be seen on an X-ray of Basket of apples (F 99 / JH 930

); it measures 45.0 x 60.4 cm. Ill. 2134

. See cat. Amsterdam 1999, pp. 76-77, 177 (ill.).

6. Cor was an apprentice at Haverkamp Begemann’s machine works; he also boarded there: see letter 443, n. 3.

7. Van Gogh said this in letter 479.

8. Uncle Jan van Gogh wrote about this to Uncle Vincent and Aunt Cornelie: ‘Vincent told me and Stricker of his intention not to live with his mother any longer, but to settle by himself in the village. He also discussed the matter with his brother Theo, and will now, I think, go to the house where he was previously already accustomed to do his drawing and painting. Vincent was of the opinion that by doing so he would avoid all the difficulties with his sister.’ A piece has been cut out of the letter at this point. (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum Documentation, bd 16, undated letter, but written shortly after 1 April; Nebbeling/Weenink Ladies Collection, De Bilt). See also n. 9.

9. Willemien later wrote to her friend Line Kruysse about this incident with Anna: ‘[Vincent’s] disappointments often embittered him and made him not a normal person. That was a difficult thing for my parents, who could not always follow him and often misunderstood him. My father was a stickler for the proper form, and he [Vincent] never concerned himself with all that; naturally that often caused clashes, and neither of the parties readily forgot words that were spoken in anger. So for the last eight years Vincent had been a problem to many people, and because of the outward appearances they all too often forgot the great deal of good that was in him. The last few years he worked at home with us; after my father’s death Anna thought it would be more peaceful for Ma if he were not to live at home any longer and contrived that he left us. He took that so badly that we have heard nothing from him since then and we only know about him through Theo. I do so hope that he will gradually forget his grievances, for it is such a sad relationship, and something like this so easily leads to discord’ (FR b4536. Breda, 26 August 1886).

In a memoir of her sister Lies, Anna wrote (probably in 1923): ‘The summer that Pa died I spent several weeks at the parsonage with the two children and the nursemaid, and I saw and noticed a great deal that was bad. He gave in to all his desires, and spared nothing and no one. How Pa must have suffered. Although I, too, admire his art, I despise his person. Theo must also have suffered so much’ (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum Documentation, bd57).

10. This plan did not go ahead: Mrs van Gogh did not go to live in Leiden until 1889; she left Nuenen on 30 March 1886 and went to Breda first. Her daughter Anna lived in Leiderdorp, near Leiden.

12. Van Gogh derived this from what Jean Gigoux says about Delacroix in Causeries sur les artistes de mon temps (Gigoux 1885, p. 68). Van Gogh refers to it again in letter 515. Theo had sent Vincent the book, which contains numerous anecdotes about artists: see letters 485 and 492.

a. Read: ‘Gij moet ze toch laten zien’ (you must show them anyway).

b. Read: ‘afschrikt’ (put off).

13. On the day of Mr van Gogh’s death Theo had withdrawn 1000 francs from his current account (FR b2123).

14. By ‘settling affairs’ Vincent means winding up Mr van Gogh’s estate. A minister’s widow was entitled to go on living in the parsonage for a year – but it was necessary to determine the size of the estate (see exhib. cat. ’s-Hertogenbosch 1987, pp. 86-89). The ‘f’ must refer to francs, not guilders.

Van Gogh did cede his share of the inheritance; interestingly, in March 1889 it was these very ‘youngsters’ – Lies and Willemien – who made their shares available to Vincent when he was ill (see letter 506, n. 21 and letter 749, n. 1).

15. This is the first specific mention of Van Gogh’s plan to paint potato eaters. Given the use of the words ‘that thing’, Vincent must have discussed it with Theo.