1. These letters must have been sent when Mrs van Gogh was still in The Hague nursing Theo back to health.

2. Evidently a quotation from Theo’s letter.

14. Van Gogh quoted Bersier’s text in a previous letter: see letter 40, n. 7.

17. Cf. hymn 62:2, ‘Och! mogt all’ mijn levensdagen, / Wat hem behaagt ook mij behagen’ (Oh, may all my livelong days, / What pleaseth Him please me always).

18. Cf. Eccl. 7:4, ‘But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth’, and Prov. 14:13, ‘Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness’. Cf. also Eccl. 2:2.

19. Saying derived from: ‘We knew that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity’, to be found in John Flavel, A faithful and succinct narrative of some late and wonderful sea-deliverances. See The works of John Flavel. The Banner of Truth Trust. 2nd ed. Fakenham, Norfolk 1982, vol. 4, p. 507.

20. Cf. 2 Cor. 13:9.

21. John 17:15.

22. Hans Holbein the Younger. No information about this presentation with the magic lantern has been found. The minister in question was perhaps Mr Hicks, who is mentioned a number of times in the Minutes of Resolutions of the Sunday school at Turnham Green (London, Metropolitan Archives, ref. N/C/35/6/1).

23. Various depictions of the marriage of Martin Luther are known. Van Gogh could have seen the reproduction of a work by Pierre Antoine Labouchère, who painted historical subjects in the manner of Holbein the Younger. A painting by Labouchère of 1856 was reproduced as an engraving by Jean Denis Nargeot titled The marriage, which shows the wedding ceremony in Amdorff’s house at Wittemberg on 13 June 1525. The print was published by Dan & Son, Lithographers to the Queen. Ill. 1780

. See Illustrations of the life of Martin Luther: engraved in line after original paintings by P.A. Labouchère with letterpress descriptions by I.H. Merle d’Aubigné. London 1862.

24. The church opened its doors on 21 September 1875, so it was not exactly one year old.

25. Hymn 128:4. ‘Leer mij, o Heer! dien pligt betrachten, / Door kinderlijk geloof geleid’ (Teach me, O Lord, to fulfil that duty, / Led by childlike faith).

26. Phil. 3:14 (in KJ Phil. 3:13).

27. Cf. Mark 14:36, Rom. 8:15 and Gal. 4:6.

28. Syon Park in Isleworth.

29. Anna must have described her impressions to Vincent in much the same way as she wrote about them to Theo in a letter of 4 October 1876: ‘I’m sitting here writing in front of my open window and have a view of a magnificent sunset and a large old cedar, which dates from before the days of the poet Young. It’s beautiful here, the leaves on all the trees are beginning to change, and such a grey, fog-like shadow lies over everything’ (FR b2783).

30. Job 7:1 (in KJ ‘Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?’).

31. In 1618, Dirk Rafaelsz. Camphuysen wrote:

‘Daer moet veel strijdts gestreden sijn:

Daer moet veel leets geleden sijn:

En veel gebedts gebeden sijn:

En Christelijcke zeden sijn:

Een nauwen wech betreden sijn;

Soo lang wij hier beneden sijn:

Soo sal ’t hier nae in vreden sijn.’

(Many battles must be fought

Much of life with suffering fraught

Many prayers one must needs pray

And Christian morals should hold sway

A straight and narrow way be tread

As long as life on earth is led

Hereafter peace doth lie ahead.)

Quoted after H.G. van den Doel, Ik hoor trompetten klinken. De dichters Jacobus Revius en Dirk Camphuysen. Leiden 1969, p. 23. The verses were included in printed editions of Camphuysen’s poetry, including Stichtelijcke rijmen (Edifying verses), but Van Gogh was likely referring to a later version – whether or not adapted – or else quoting from memory. See Stichtelijcke rijmen. Rotterdam 1655, part 1, p. 412. It is not clear whether the variant last line, based on hymn 20:9 – ‘Het eind zal zeker zalig zijn’ (The end will certainly be blest) – was Van Gogh’s own invention. Various versions did exist, as evidenced by such books as Uitgelezen Stichtelijke Rijmen van D.R. Camphuysen. Ed. J. van Vloten. Schiedam 1861, p. 86. Cf. Pabst 1988, p. 62.

32. Luke 23:46 has ‘in uwe handen beveel ik mijnen geest’ (into thy hands I commend my spirit).

33. Hymn 27:2 and Hymn 50:3.

34. Ps. 127:1.

35. Uncle Jan (Johannes) van Gogh.