Updates (version December 2011)
Functionalities
The site’s search facility has been extended to cover the editorial essays, the chronology, the letters overview and the documentation. Cross-references to individuals, works of art, books and Bible references now also include references to the editorial texts.
Many minor changes have been made to the maps and plans.
It is now possible to search for sketches included with the letters (for example, search for Old man with an umbrella seen from the back, F - / JH 214).
All extant envelopes are accessible under the facsimile tab (see letter 10, for example).
The address side of all postcards is now accessible under the facsimile tab (see letter 223, for example).
The zoom level is displayed when zooming in on a facsimile.
When a note is opened in the middle (metadata) column, the ‘Show metadata’ command at the top of the column will close the note and restore the letter’s metadata. The same can be done by clicking the hyperlink on the note number.
In the Advanced search panel, the prompt for works of art, individuals and literature now ignores accents (é, ë, ô, etc.)
Superfluous ‘see’ references have been removed from the persons index, as they made searching more complicated. For example, the entry ‘Beecher Stowe, see Stowe’ is no longer there. You can still find ‘Beecher’ using your browser’s search facility (usually Ctrl-F in Windows, Cmd-F on a Mac).
Rather than showing each first-time visitor the Quick guide, there is now a modest pop-up window suggesting that the Quick guide might offer useful help.
The number of letters in sections 1 and 2 of the Overview of all the letters is now hyperlinked to a list of the corresponding letters.
Letters
Letter 55, translation:
‘wake me op’ changed to ‘wake me up’
Letter 85, n. 4 changed to:
A missionary working in London. The London Missionary Society, which was founded in 1795, sent missionaries abroad to the British Empire.
Letter 93, n. 13 changed to:
Elbert Jan van Wisselingh had received his training at Goupil’s in The Hague (1864-1866) and in Paris (1866-1874). He and the art dealer Daniel Cottier were business partners in London in the years 1874-1882. Their gallery was at 8 Pall Mall. See Heijbroek and Wouthuysen 1999. The Guardian of 24 August 2011 reported that art historian Max Donnelly ‘has established that the windows are located in St Andrews church in Owslebury, near Winchester. Standing just over a metre high (4ft), the windows were commissioned by William Carnegie, 8th Earl of Northesk, as a memorial to his wife and daughter, who both died before him. Both women are depicted as the Virgin Mary. […] Donnelly contacted the earl’s descendants and was pointed in the direction of the family scrapbook. “Inside I found photographs of the people involved and photographs of the designs that Van Gogh had described,” said Donnelly. “I assume that the 8th earl sent copies to family members showing them what he was intending for the church to the memory of his wife and daughter”.’ Ills. 3099-3202.
Letter 122, n. 6 changed to:
Booksellers’ Row was the unofficial name of the area around Paternoster Row and Honeywell Street in London (near the Strand), ...
Letter 136, n. 22:
The example of Anne of Brittany, after the sculpture by Jean Juste de Tours ...
Letter 175, translation:
‘‘intangible’, though’ changed to ‘‘intangible’ though’
Letter 179, n. 4, added:
See also letter 193, n. 25.
Letter 193, n. 25 changed to:
Taken from the poem ‘Onvermoeid’ (Tireless) by P.A. de Génestet: see letter 179, n. 4. The last part of the utterance is quoted again in letter 458, where the word ‘énergique’ has been added.
Letter 214:
Notes 4 and 5 have been reversed.
Letter 333, n. 32 changed to:
Although Van Gogh wrote ‘Henri Pille’, this is a reference to Howard Pyle’s Christmas morning in Old New York, which is also mentioned in letter 346; see letter 279, n. 8.
Letter 357, n. 4 changed to:
The painting is most probably L’attente – Le samedi à Villerville, Calvados (Waiting – Saturday at Villerville, Calvados) (present whereabouts unknown). A photograph of the work was published in L’Illustration 43 (21 March 1885), pp. 189-190. The etching by Butin is ill. 664.
Letter 357, n. 6 changed to:
Bernardus Blommers, Novembre (November) (private collection) was shown at the Salon of 1883.
Letter 449, translation:
‘can express’ changed to ‘it can express’.
Letter 453, n. 5:
‘in a building next to the South Kensington Museum in West London’ changed to ‘in the South Kensington Museum in West London’.
Letter 496, translation
‘food in reality for one’s imagination’ changed to ‘food for one’s imagination from reality’.
Letter 507, changed to:
But it’s — an enchanted land — where one isn’t free.
Letter 519, translation:
‘paint dark’ changed to ‘paint darkly’.
Letter 528, translation:
‘life and raison d'être’ changed to ‘life of its own and raison d'être’.
Letter 545, translation:
‘at least so one can see them’ changed to ‘at least, one can see them like that’.
Letter 569, translation:
‘so useful’ changed to ‘as useful’.
Letter 569, n. 2-3, and letter 669 n. 5-6:
‘VIIIe exposition de peinture impressionniste’ changed to ‘VIIIe exposition de peinture’.
Letter 653, note added:
12. Bouches-du-Rhône.
Letter 736:
Notes 17, 18 and 19 have been reversed.
Letter 826, n. 1:
‘Cf. Hulsker 1993-2’ changed to ‘Cf. Benno Stokvis, Lijden zonder klagen: het tragische levenslot van Hubertina van Gogh. Baarn 1969.’
Images
Letter 507:
Image of X-ray corrected by reversal.
Letter 643:
Image of F 1471 / JH 1420 corrected by reversal.
People mentioned in the correspondence
‘Petrus Anthonius (Antoon) Hermans’ changed to ‘Anthonius (Antoon) Petrus Hermans’
‘Johannes van der Harten’ changed to ‘Joseph van der Harten’
Willem van de Wakker (1859-1927) …, who lived in Eindhoven
‘Anton Rudolf Mauve’ changed to ‘Anton Mauve’
Credit lines
Ulysse Butin, Waiting - Saturday at Villerville: credit line changed to ‘Collection P. & G. Groff, USA’
Chronology
1873
‘La Jeunesse de Cromwell’ changed to ‘Cromwell’
Updates (version December 2010)
Click here for notes about previous updates.
Letters
Letter 569, changed to:
yellow and violet, seeking LES TONS ROMPUS ET NEUTRES to harmonise ...
Letter 234
‘geraapleegd’ changed to ‘geraadpleegd’
Notes
Letter 40, n. 12 changed to:
Jean Louis Hamon, Si j’étais l’hiver sombre (If I were sombre winter), engraved by Leon Mariani. Ill. 1687. The original work is part of the decorative painting The four seasons, 1850, by Henry Picou, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Gustave Rodolphe Boulanger and Jean Louis Hamon (The Cleveland Museum of Art).
Letter 41, n. 9, changed to:
Mrs van Gogh’s birthday was 10 September. The birthday present had still not arrived at Helvoirt on 12 September. The Reverend Van Gogh told Theo that he had asked about it at the post office (FR b3572).
Letter 199, n. 12, changed to:
Van Gogh is very probably referring to one of the prints relating to Hubert von Herkomer’s painting … A print titled Sunday at Chelsea hospital, after a drawing which Herkomer later used for the painting, was published in The Graphic 3 …There is an impression in Van Gogh’s estate.
Letter 437, n. 14, changed to:
Johanna Hendrika Amilda van Renesse, an unmarried woman of independent means, lived in De Berg no. 505 (district F, now Beekstraat) in Nuenen (FR b2255 and b2254; and RHC).
Letter 510:
Notes 12 and 13 have been reversed.
Letter 560, n. 8, added at the end of the note:
Theo knew what Vincent was talking about. He and Andries Bonger [+ tag] had seen a performance of Socrate et sa femme at the Théâtre Français on 25 December 1885 (FR b1832).
Letter 569, n. 8, changed to:
For a suggested identification, see Van Tilborgh 2007, p. 70, n. 31, and Louis van Tilborgh and Ella Hendriks, ‘Dirk Hannema and the rediscovery of a painting by Vincent van Gogh’, The Burlington Magazine, June 2010, p. 403, n. 87.
Letter 795, n. 1, changed to:
Before his departure Cor spent ‘nearly a week’ with Theo and Jo in Paris, arriving there on 16 August 1889. Aunt Cornelie had given him 500 guilders to travel to Southampton via Paris (FR b4292). Cor had written a letter to Vincent from Breda (FR b2408).
Letter 853, n. 6:
‘Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera (Departure for Cythera)’ changed to: ‘Embarkation for Cythera’.
Images
Letter 602
Image of F 1476 / JH 1409 corrected through reversal.
Letter 851
New images of the letter (recto and verso).
Letter 853
New images of the letter (recto and verso).
People mentioned in the correspondence
‘Gustave Albert Aurier’ changed to ‘Gabriel-Albert Aurier’
Credit lines
Letters 325, 618, 851, 853 and 740:
‘Private Collection’ changed to ‘Private Collection / Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits, Paris’.
Vincent van Gogh, Green wheatfield (F 718 / JH 1727): ‘Zurich, Kunsthaus’ changed to ‘Private collection’.
Updates (version June 2010)
Notes
Letter 12, n. 5, changed to:
Here Van Gogh names popular tourist attractions: Crystal Palace, the principal structure of the 1851 Great Exhibition, re-erected in Sydenham; the medieval Tower of London; and Madame Tussaud’s waxworks museum in Baker Street.
Letters 199, n. 9; 235, n. 13; 314, n. 9; and 359, n. 38:
‘Patrick Michael Fitzgerald (fl. 1871-1891)’ changed to: ‘Michael FitzGerald (1848-1922)’.
Letter 260, n. 9:
‘letters 202, 215 and 245’ changed to: ‘letters 202, 216 and 245’.
Letter 363, n. 2, changed to:
Van Gogh thinks that the drawings listed here, which he had mentioned before, could also be photographed. The first drawing would have had the same subject as the sketch The sandpit at Dekkersduin near The Hague (F 1028 / JH 367), which Vincent had sent to Theo with letter 348. The drawings, which Van Gogh also calls ‘team of workmen labouring’, are mentioned in letters 348-357.
Letter 535, n. 15, changed to:
Cf. letter 534, where Van Gogh also talked about Hals’s use of yellow. He borrowed the term “jaune chamois” from Thoré, who used it in connection with Hals’s Merry drinker (see Thoré 1858-1860, vol. 1, p. 60).
Letter 539, n. 19:
‘letter 534’ changed to ‘letters 534 and 535’.
Letter 545:
Notes 4 and 5 have been reversed.
Letter 549, n. 4:
‘The Grote Markt (F 1356 / JH 974) and The spire of the Church of Our Lady (F 1352 / JH 975)’ changed to: ‘The Grote Markt (F 1352 / JH 975) and The spire of the Church of Our Lady (F 1356 / JH 974)’.
Letter 611, n. 4, changed to:
It emerges … that the Charpentier gallery had sold five small paintings … 38 x 46 cm. See J. B. de la Faille, ‘Sammler und Markt. Unbekannte bilder von Vincent van Gogh’, Der Cicerone, February 1927, pp. 101-105. F 290 must have been one …
Letter 641, n. 1:
The last five paragraphs have been moved to letter 643, n. 1.
Letter 665:
Notes 10 and 11 have been reversed.
Chronology, 1888, changed to:
About 19 June
Has read Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème (628).
23 June
Sends a drawing to Theo (630).
July
Reads Balzac’s César Birotteau. Decides to re-read all of Balzac’s novels (636, 637).
Images
Letter 77, n. 1:
New image and caption: A moss animal (Flustra foliacea) and a hydroid (Hydrallmania falcata) (ill. 1918).
Letter 160, n. 2:
Images of the illustrations from Zahn have been added (ills. 3094, 3095, 3096, 3097 and 3098).
Letter 446, n. 1:
New image of Plan of Van Gogh’s studio at Heieind (ill. 2121).
Letter 491:
New images of the letter (recto and verso).
Letter 689:
Image of enclosed sketch corrected through reversal.
Credit lines
Vincent van Gogh, The viaduct (F 480 / JH 1603): ‘Kunsthaus Zurich’ changed to ‘Private collection’.
Vincent van Gogh, Cart with black ox (F 39 / JH 505): Portland Art Museum, Gift of Fred and Frances Sohn.
Concordance
This edition / Collected Letters (CL)
Letter 343 = CL 285
Letter 384 = CL 322
Letter 423 = CL 352
Letter 424 = CL -
Letter 496 = CL 403
Letter 504 = CL R51
Letter 514 = CL R52
Letter 564 = CL 456
Letter 616 = CL 493
Letter 732 = CL 568
Letter 885 = CL 641a