3. Van Gogh sent twelve drawings to Russell before about 3 August: see letter 654, n. 1. The batch was meant to dispose him favourably towards buying a work by Gauguin and consequently does not seem to be connected to the exchange proposed previously (letter 589).

4. Mousmé (F 431 / JH 1519

5. Van Gogh made two paintings of the garden: Garden with flowers (F 430 / JH 1510

) and Garden with flowers (F 429 / JH 1513

). He also said in letter 645 that Macknight liked these studies.

6. Cf. for Macknight’s financial situation: letter 650, n. 21.

7. In a letter to Willemien van Gogh, Roulin described himself as ‘Entreposeur des Postes’ and gave his address as ‘Rue de la Montagne des Cordes 10’ (FR b710; Verzamelde brieven 1973, vol. 4, p. 164). According to Priou he was brigadier-chargeur at Arles station, responsible for loading and unloading sacks of mail. See Priou 1955, p. 27. The rue de la Montagne de Corde was to the north of place Lamartine.

Van Gogh said that Roulin resembled the philosopher Socrates on more than one occasion, undoubtedly because of his shaggy beard and Republican convictions. Cf. Head of Socrates (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Ill. 2209

(see letters 653, 654, 655 and 738). He appears to have based his view about Socrates’s legendary ugliness on Michelet’s ‘a veritable satyr’ (un vrai satyre) (see letter 368, n. 4).

Van Gogh painted two portraits of Roulin in late July and early August: Joseph Roulin (F 432 / JH 1522

) and Joseph Roulin (F 433 / JH 1524

). It emerges from letters 655 and 662 that he painted the bust first, and then the head; this is therefore the first work (the second is not mentioned until letter 654).

8. See for Gauguin’s Among the mangoes : letter 612, n. 1. Russell had expressed an interest in this work (see letter 647).

9. Milliet went on leave to Northern France (letter 659). On the way there he delivered Van Gogh’s second batch – 36 paintings – to Theo in Paris. He arrived on Friday, 17 August 1888 (letter 662).

10. See letter 649, n. 1-5, for these sketches by Bernard.

11. See letters 657 and 663 for this batch of drawings for Theo.

12. This is the ‘rather large’ paint and canvas order that Vincent had sent with letter 644. Theo must have sent a sample of canvas for Vincent’s opinion, as we learn from letter 654.

13. Van Gogh did actually carry out this plan some time later, although with sand barges rather than the coal boat. He split the subject he describes here into two, perhaps because he realized that a high vantage point and a sunset are very hard to reconcile in a single composition. In the drawing Quay with sand barges (F 1462 / JH 1556

) and the painting F 449 / JH 1558

of August 1888 he pictured the boats from a high viewpoint (see letter 660), with small figures and with no horizon, giving the scene a Japanese feel. In Sand barges (F 437 / JH 1570

) and Sand barges (F 438 / JH 1571

) he painted the effect of the sunset. We do not know exactly when the latter two studies were made; there may be a connection with letter 697, in which Van Gogh says he has painted a sunset.