1. View of the terrace near the Moulin de Blute-Fin (F 272 / JH 1183) of 1887 was painted over this work. Until now it has been assumed that it was Houses seen from the back (F 260 / JH 970); however, there is snow on the roofs in that painting, whereas the first snowfall was on 9 December and Van Gogh says that he painted the works in question ‘last week’ (l. 3). See cat. Amsterdam 2011; cf. also letter 547, Date.

2. These paintings of the park are not known.

3. See for the works that Van Gogh took with him from Nuenen: letter 545, n. 4. We do not know who these three art dealers were.

4. We do not know whether this plan was ever carried out. The notion that the intended work turned out to be the panel F 211 / JH 973 , as was long assumed on Tralbaut’s instigation, has proved to be incorrect (Tralbaut 1948): the panel is of the De Ruyterkade in Amsterdam and was painted on 6, 7 or 8 October 1885. See letter 534, n. 17.

5. Van Gogh is referring to a work in Raffaëlli’s style that he mentioned in letter 544.

6. Paul Emile Nicolié, painter and art dealer, who lived at Keizerstraat 8 (district 2). He also worked as a restorer at the Antwerp Museum, where he held the post of ‘expert’. (SAA and Adresboek 1885).

7. Jan Theodor Jozef Linnig, art dealer at 35 Oude Koornmarkt in Antwerp, also a painter.

8. Petrus Gerardus Vertin, known for his cityscapes, painted in warm colours and with strong light effects.

9. Scala was a music-hall and ballroom in Anneessensstraat, which opened in December 1884; according to a tourist guide of the time it was a ‘theatre built in an exotic architectural style’. See R. Binnemans, Atlas van Antwerpen; evolutie van een stedelijk landschap van 1850 tot heden. Antwerp 1991 (not paginated).

10. The Folies Bergères was and is a famous revue theatre in rue Richer in Paris.

11. The scene he describes resembles the little sketch Dance-hall from Van Gogh’s sketchbook of this period (now preserved as a separate drawing), in which ‘girls’ looking on wear red scarves. Ill. 2170 .

12. Pieter Verhaert was a teacher at the Antwerp Academy; as well as genre works and landscapes he also painted numerous portraits.

13. During the summer it had become clear that the Parisian art dealer Alphonse Portier’s initial enthusiasm for Van Gogh’s work had cooled; cf. letter 534, n. 30.

14. ‘Enseignes’ – the word Van Gogh uses here – literally means a shop sign; however since Van Gogh goes on to refer to canvas (l. 141), he must have had in mind paintings for shop windows or interiors rather than advertising signs to go on shop fronts. Another possibility is that he was thinking of the canvases as designs for the signs.