1. Van Gogh was planning to be in Helvoirt by Saturday evening, 10 May to take leave of his parents (FR b2626); he left Helvoirt on Monday, 12 May. On his way to London he stopped off in Paris, where he spent nearly a week.

2. Maria Magdalena Alida Tersteeg-Pronk, wife of Van Gogh’s superior Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg. For this portrait, cf. letter 5, n. 5.

3. Mrs van Gogh wrote to Theo on 11 May, when Vincent was in Helvoirt: ‘It’s wonderful to hear Vincent telling about how kind everyone was to him and about his leave-taking from The Hague. He was given an album and so many little presents and portraits, two very large, splendid portraits of Uncle and Aunt Haanebeek, Mr and Mrs Tersteeg and Betsy, Aunt Fietje and the girls, and others’ (FR b2626).

4. Uncle Hein and Aunt Mietje in Brussels.

5. Van Gogh took the train that went to Paris via Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels. According to the 1873 timetable, the train arrived at 14.06 at Brussels North; the connection to Paris left from Brussels South at 14.35 and arrived in Paris at 21.05 (Brussels, Archives of the Belgian Railways).