1. The last letter to Willemien was letter 785 of 2 July 1889.

2. Willemien had written to Vincent between 8 and 12 September (FR b2931).

3. Willemien had been staying in Middelharnis, and Mrs van Gogh in Princenhage (FR b2902, b2931).

4. The letter to Mrs van Gogh is letter 803.

5. Van Gogh painted two versions of Pietà (after Delacroix), F 630 / JH 1775 and F 757 / JH 1776 , after the lithograph by Nanteuil-Leboeuf after Delacroix’s Pietà (for the lithograph, see letter 686, n. 3). The canvas he describes here, which he made for his bedroom, is F 630.

6. Letter 805 to Theo reveals that these paintings are copies after the series The labours of the field , consisting of ten prints on one sheet, engraved by Adrien Lavieille (see letter 156, n. 1). Here Van Gogh mentions ‘a few’ copies (in letter 805 he meanwhile has seven). Because he most likely kept to the order of the prints, the ‘few’ mentioned here were probably the first of the series (for the prints and Van Gogh’s paintings after them, see letter 805, n. 6).

7. Pierre Loti’s novel Mon frère Yves (1883) is the story of the friendship between the first-person narrator, Pierre, and his friend Yves, both sailors. Pierre is an officer and can therefore protect Yves, who has inherited his father’s tendency to drink too much. This weakness causes problems on board ship and in Yves’s young family. Pierre’s support is crucial, and eventually Yves mends his ways. Willemien probably read this book because Vincent mentioned it here; on 19 October 1889, she wrote to Jo van Gogh-Bonger that she had enjoyed it very much (FR b2404).

8. The article ‘Carmen Sylva’ by Pierre Loti was published in Le Figaro, Supplément Littéraire of 28 April 1888; the second part appeared on 5 May. Van Gogh took his information from the first part.

9. Loti gives a detailed description of the boudoir of the Romanian queen. Commenting on Delacroix’s painting, Loti said: ‘When she was seated at her work, I could see, from the spot she had indicated to me on the first day, and which it was my habit to resume, her face and her veil standing out in front of a large, superb canvas by Delacroix: the entombment of Christ.’ (Lorsqu’elle était assise à travailler, de la place qu’elle m’avait indiquée le premier jour et que j’avais coutume de reprendre, je voyais son visage et son voile se détacher en avant d’une grande et superbe toile de Delacroix: la mise au tombeau du Christ.) This was in fact a copy of Delacroix’s The lamentation, 1844 (Saint-Denis du Saint-Sacrement, Paris). Van Gogh must have misidentified this painting as the Pietà he was interested in. See Johnson 1981-1989, vol. 5, p. 80, n. 1.

10. Loti quotes the saying that a house without a child is like a bell without a clapper. The passage comes from Carmen Sylva, Les pensées d’une reine (The thoughts of a queen): ‘A house without children is like a bell without a clapper. The dormant sound would surely be very beautiful, if there were something to awaken it!’ (Une maison sans enfants est comme une cloche sans battant. Le son qui dort serait bien beau, s’il y avait quelque chose pour le réveiller!) See Sylva 1888, p. 45 (‘L’amour’).

11. The ‘little copy’ is Pietà (after Delacroix) (F 757 / JH 1776 ); the canvas measures 42 x 34 cm. Van Gogh painted this ‘sketch’ first, as emerges from letter 801. It did eventually come into Willemien’s possession (see also n. 21 below).

12. For the novel Germinie Lacerteux by Jules and Edmond de Goncourt, see letter 574, n. 5. Germinie’s sad appearance, which Van Gogh compares with that of his model, is expressed in the following passage, among others: ‘the whiteness of her back, contrasting with the brown of her face. It was the whiteness of lethargy, the whiteness, both sickly and angelic, of flesh that is not alive.’ (la blancheur de son dos, contrastant avec le hâle de son visage. C’était une blancheur de lymphatique, la blancheur à la fois malade et angélique d’une chair qui ne vit pas.) Ed. Paris 1887, chapter 5, p. 52. Cf. letter 685, n. 10 and Sund 1992, p. 292 (n. 91).

13. This idea is based on Zola’s Mon Salon; see letter 515, n. 11.

14. Van Gogh is referring to the first version of the portrait of Jeanne Trabuc, the 55-year-old wife of the chief orderly. He made a repetition of it and let Madame Trabuc choose between them (see letter 805). Only the portrait that was sent to Theo is known: Jeanne Trabuc (F 631 / JH 1777 ). Because we do not know if Theo received the first or the second version, we cannot tell whether the portrait he had is the one referred to here.

15. For Tolstoy’s Ma religion, see letter 686, nn. 10 and 20.

16. Self-portrait (F 626 / JH 1770 ) and Self-portrait (F 627 / JH 1772 ).

17. For Guillaumin’s Self-portrait with palette and Portrait of a young woman , see letter 800, n. 21.

18. Guillaumin exhibited his Self-portrait with palette in 1880 at the fifth exhibition of the Impressionists (no. 72, Portrait de M.G.). Portrait of a young woman was shown at the eighth and last exhibition, in 1886 (no. 65, Portrait). See Ruth Berson, The New Painting. Impressionism 1874-1886. Documentation. Volume II. Exhibited Works, San Francisco 1996, pp. 150, 244.

19. Theo Mesker, Anton Mauve, 1871 (present whereabouts unknown). Ill. 1143 . See Engel 1967, no. B1.

20. The letter to Theo was letter 802. This remark prompted Willemien to ask Theo on 2 October 1889: ‘Is Vincent perhaps coming to Paris again, he wrote that to me’ (FR b2401).

21. The consignment of paintings intended for his mother and Willemien, which Vincent sent to Theo in December, did contain canvases of a wheatfield and an olive grove, but not the copy after Delacroix. See letter 824. F 757 did eventually come into Willemien’s possession; see Account book 2002, p. 20.

22. Van Gogh had not been out of doors since his attack on 16 or 17 July 1889 (see letter 793, n. 1).