1. Rubens, The descent from the Cross, 1612, in the south aisle of the transept in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp; the triptych The elevation of the Cross, 1610, in the north aisle. Ill. 1299

and Ill. 1300

2. Women only appear on the left side panel of The elevation of the Cross , among them Mary and Mary Magdalene.

3. See for the origin of this borrowing from Petites misères de la vie humaine by Old Nick and Grandville letter 178, n. 6.

4. See for Young man with a walking stick , which is no longer regarded as a Rembrandt, letter 536, n. 9.

5. See for Rembrandt, The Jewish bride : letter 430, n. 10.

a. Read: ‘portretten in strikte zin’ (portraits in the strict sense) (cf. the French ‘proprement dit’).

6. The Mannerist style of Giulio Romano was regarded at the time as a decadent transitional style between the High Renaissance and the Baroque. Rubens was influenced by Romano and copied his work. See Fredrick Hartt, Giulio Romano. 2 vols. New Haven 1958, vol. 1, pp. xvi, xxi, 46, 150.

7. See for the description ‘symphonies of the colours’: letter 537, n. 7.

8. Aside from The descent from the Cross and The elevation of the Cross in the Cathedral of Our Lady referred to earlier in the letter, Van Gogh could have seen the following works by Rubens in Antwerp churches: also in the cathedral hung The assumption of the virgin, 1626 and The resurrection of Christ, 1612; in Sint-Jacobskerk Virgin and Christ with saints; in Sint-Augustinuskerk The Holy Family with saints, 1628; and in Sint-Pauluskerk The real presence in the holy sacrament, 1609? and The flagellation, 1617? See Joz. de Coo, Rubens-gids voor de Antwerpse kerken. Antwerp 1946-1947, pp. 83-88.

9. The landscapes and the still life are the works Van Gogh brought with him from Nuenen: an unknown ‘mill’, Lane with poplars (F 45 / JH 959

) and Still life with Bible (F 117 / JH 946

). See letter 542, n. 3-5. He had evidently retrieved them in the meantime from the dealer’s where he had left them on consignment (letter 546). One of the portraits was probably Portrait of an old man (F 205 / JH 971

) – at least it appears from letter 565 that Charles Verlat saw it. The second portrait may have been one of the portraits of women mentioned in letter 550.

10. The fact that Theo was still none too certain about what to do with his future emerges from a letter written by his sister Elisabeth during this period. On 21 January 1886 she wrote to Jo Bonger, with whom she had been corresponding since October 1885: ‘Does your brother write to you often? Mine has bouts of great communicativity (how’s that for a word?) but then relapses into a silence like the grave. I wish I could find him a nice little wife, but that requires an assured future, and well for him who does not look for the former until he is sure beforehand of the latter, otherwise misery, all misery’ (FR b3551).

11. Gil Blas was a left-leaning daily whose editors included Maupassant and Richepin, both admired by Van Gogh. The serialization of Zola’s L’oeuvre appeared in Gil Blas in 80 instalments, from 23 December 1885 to 27 March 1886.

L’oeuvre is the story of the painter Claude Lantier. His friends originally see him as a promising innovator in painting, but in practice he is unable to get any recognition for his work. He finds himself in an increasingly precarious position and finally hangs himself when he fears that he will not be able to finish a very ambitious work that was meant to have proved his genius once and for all.

12. After this Van Gogh crossed out: ‘That way salvation lies’ (‘Daarin is heil te zoeken’).

13. This is the first time the idea of working in a studio in Paris is mentioned – the course at the Antwerp Academy was due to end on 31 March.