1. Theo was staying in the Netherlands. His letter was addressed to Vincent and Andries Bonger. At that time Andries was living at 80 rue d’Hauteville (FR b1030), but he was staying with Vincent at 54 rue Lepic, as we learn from a letter to his parents (Paris, Friday 27 August 1886): ‘My invalids (Vincent van Gogh also fell ill during Theo’s absence) have hindered me from writing. Otherwise I should have thanked you much sooner for the warmth of the reception you gave Theo. He was in raptures over his stay with you (he got back Thursday morning). It also pleases me greatly that he is to your liking. The longer one gets to know him, the more one learns to appreciate his fine mind. He is always entertaining company. I slept at the apartment while he was away, because Vincent was alone. ... I now go to eat with Van Gogh every evening as a permanent thing. It does take up a lot of time, since he lives in Montmartre, and the evenings are now taken up altogether, but it’s more pleasant for us both. The three of us always have plenty to talk about’ (FR b1844). The flat on the third floor ‘had three reasonably large rooms, a tiny study and a little kitchen. ... Vincent slept in the study, and behind that was the studio, an ordinary room with one not particularly large window’, wrote Jo van Gogh-Bonger in her introduction to Brieven 1914, p. xlvii.

2. Theo used his stay in the Netherlands to try to get support for his plans to set up his own art gallery with Andries Bonger. He talked to his Uncle Vincent, but his uncle saw no merit in the idea. We do not know who else is meant by the ‘Dutch gentlemen’, but it is reasonable to assume that he also spoke to H.G. Tersteeg. On the basis of Vincent’s remark about Uncle Cor and Uncle Vincent in letter 659 we can assume that Theo approached Uncle Cor too.

A year later, on 26 July 1887, Theo was to write to Jo Bonger about his uncle’s reaction: ‘I had several artists in mind whose work I admired and with whom I was sure I could do business. André shared my views and we arranged that I would approach my uncle, who had once promised to help me, to get the money we needed to carry out our plan and start a business together. … My uncle refused to help and fobbed me off, kindly at first, but later, when I persisted, quite firmly. André’s attempts to raise funds were no more successful. For a while I was bitterly disappointed, so much so that I fell ill.’ See Brief happiness 1999, pp. 63-64, letter 1.

3. These words are quoted from the ‘philosopher’ Pangloss in Voltaire’s Candide (1759), where they occur repeatedly. The novel tells the story of the journey of the young, open-minded Candide, who is driven out of the palace where he lives. He has learned from the household philosopher Pangloss that he lives in the best possible world: ‘Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes’. During his wanderings Candide encounters a great deal of misery (so that he begins to have doubts), but nonetheless in the end he calls for fortitude with the cry: ‘we must cultivate our own garden’ (il faut cultiver notre jardin).

Later in the correspondence, Van Gogh quotes Pangloss’s maxim about the best of all possible worlds several times more. However he interprets it as a genuine exhortation to be optimistic; the irony with which Voltaire put these words into the quasi-philosopher’s mouth largely escapes him.

4. At this time Theo had a relationship with a woman referred to only as ‘S’, about whom nothing further is known.

5. Lucie was evidently the domestic help in Theo’s apartment.

6. This remark appears to indicate that Theo had told his brother about his feelings for Jo Bonger, whom he had met for the first time a year earlier, on 7 August 1885. Andries Bonger was also aware of them, as emerges from Theo’s first letter to Jo; see Brief happiness 1999, pp. 63-64.

7. Theo had taken a flower still life by Vincent with him on his trip to show it (or sell it?) – possibly to his uncles or to H.G. Tersteeg – or to use as an exchange for two watercolours by Isabey (see n. 14 below). The works in question cannot be identified.

8. Japanese lacquer, an artistically lacquered object.

9. The four works described here cannot be identified. Van Gogh painted new scenes on top of several still lifes, and that might be what happened with these. See cat. Amsterdam 2011.

10. See for Zola’s Au bonheur des dames: letter 333, n. 35, and letter 464, n. 2 ff.

11. Guy de Maupassant, Bel-ami (1885). The protagonist is George Duroy who, on his return from military service in Algeria, is in danger of descending into a life of poverty until a childhood friend helps find him a job on a newspaper. As well as amorous intrigues in mondaine circles this later results in a political career. Duroy’s nickname is ‘Bel-ami’.

13. Andries Bonger worked at the offices of the insurance brokers Geo Wehry in Paris.

14. The Van Gogh brothers had started to build up an art collection together. One way of acquiring works was to swap them for work by Vincent – and placing Vincent’s work elsewhere would also automatically increase the chances of his establishing a reputation. Evidently Theo tried to come by two watercolours by Eugène Isabey in this manner while he was in the Netherlands, but this transaction did not take place. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 161.

15. The sale catalogue of the paintings in Uncle Vincent’s estate lists two works by Otto Weber: Sous les noyers (Under the walnut trees) (sold for 600 guilders to Van Wisselingh in The Hague; present whereabouts unknown) and Sous les châtaigniers (Under the chestnut trees) (sold for 395 guilders to M.A. van Walcheren in The Hague; present whereabouts unknown). This latter canvas features ‘a beautiful autumn sun’ (un beau soleil d’automne), so it is probably the work Vincent means. The picture is described as follows: ‘In a wooded Breton landscape three children are sitting at the foot of an old chestnut tree. In a beautiful autumn sunset, which penetrates in a thousand places and casts a bright light over the tree-trunks and the ground, three cows make their way to the cowshed.’ (Dans un paysage boisé en Bretagne trois enfants sont assis au pied d’un vieux châtaignier. Au coucher d’un beau soleil d’automne, qui pénètre en mille endroits et éclaire vivement les troncs des arbres et le sol, trois vaches prennent le chemin de l’étable.) See auct. cat. The Hague 1889, pp. 54-55, cat. nos. 154-155 (Lugt 1938-1987, no. 48116).

16. In May 1886 Bonger had become officially engaged to Anne (Annie) Marie Louise van der Linden; he had already informed his parents of his intentions in October 1885 (FR b1825). Both Annie and his sister Jo lived in Amsterdam (Jo at her parent’s house). See Brief happiness 1999, pp. 14, 21.

17. Very probably François Spijker, a colleague and friend of Bonger’s in Paris. He is mentioned repeatedly in the correspondence between Andries and Jo, as well as in letters between Jo and Theo (FR b1824; b1832; b1843; b1029; b1846; b1034; b4285; b4286; b4290 and b4302). There is no Spijker listed in the Paris directories, and the ‘Archives de la Préfecture de Police’ contain no data on the registration of foreigners prior to 1900. Cf. exhib. cat. Paris 1988, p. 367.