1. Theo had gone to see Mauve on Saturday, 21 July (FR b2546).
2. As emerges from Van Gogh’s description further on, these three lithographs were taken from Kunstkronijk. The first was made by Carel Christiaan Antony Last after Johannes Bosboom’s Gezicht op de kerk te Scheveningen (View of the church at Scheveningen), in Kunstkronijk 5 (1844-1845), p. 20. Ill. 1840 [1840].
Bosboom made various ‘portraits’ of the church at Breda. Several reproductions of these works appeared in Kunstkronijk, including the lithograph Kerk te Breda met de tombe der graven Engelbrecht i en Jan van Nassau (Church at Breda with the tomb of the counts Engelbrecht i and Jan of Nassau) by Frederik Hendrik Weissenbruch Dzn. (Kunstkronijk 19 (1858), facing p. 46). Ill. 1841 [1841]. Cf. Marius and Martin 1917, pp. 123, 127, 134, 141, 144-147.
Bosboom had three works at the Paris World Exhibition of 1855: Monks of the order of Saint Francis, singing a ‘Te Deum’; The Lord’s Supper room in a Protestant church and Consistory room at Nijmegen. See exhib. cat. 1855, p. 156, cat. nos. 1526-1528. Only the first was reproduced as a lithograph, Franciskaner monniken het Te Deum zingende (Franciscan monks singing the Te Deum) by Frederik Hendrik Weissenbruch, in Kunstkronijk 17 (1856), no. 3, so this must have been the one Vincent sent. Ill. 1842 [1842].
[1840] [1841] [1842]
3. In Theo’s scrapbook the lithograph Molen langs de Trekvaart [461] (Mill by the Trekvaart) by Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (see letter 11, n. 16) is followed by Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch’s Landschap met een bootje (Landscape with a boat) and on p. 3 a Landschap met kerk en molens, gezien vanaf een duin (Landscape with church and windmills, seen from a dune), the last-mentioned lithographed by Jacobus Jan van der Maaten; p. 5 contains the lithograph by Frederik Hendrik Weissenbruch Dzn. after Jan Weissenbruch, Het hofje aan de Nieuwe Haven te ’s-Gravenhage (The ‘hofje’ at the Nieuwe Haven in The Hague) (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, t*1488). Ill. 1652 [1652], Ill. 1653 [1653] and Ill. 1654 [1654]. (See also letter 13, n. 2).
[461] [1652] [1653] [1654]
4. See letter 121 regarding Vincent’s collection of historical texts.
5. The situation was in fact less promising. Two weeks later Mr van Gogh intimated in a letter to Theo that he was pessimistic about the duration and financing of the preparations: ‘Vincent’s study for the entrance examinations will need to take at least 2, if not 3, years, but provision was made for a test to see whether he was suited to the study, and that seems to be the case. We should hope to find the means necessary’ (FR b2549, 6 August 1877). Lies wrote to her brother optimistically: ‘How wonderful for Pa and Ma that Vincent’s master has assured him that he is suited for the study’ (FR b2550, 12 August 1877).
6. The accident happened on Wednesday, 25 July in the afternoon, according to a report in the Geïllustreerd Politie Nieuws of 28 July 1877. See Groot and De Vries 1990, pp. 36-37.
7. The same newspaper article reported: ‘It proved impossible to save the other child. The body has not yet been recovered.’
8. Cf. Eccl. 7:2-4.
9. On Sunday, 22 July, Jeremias Posthumus Meijjes preached the 7 a.m. sermon in the Noorderkerk.
10. Various shipyards were located on Bickerseiland, north-west of the city centre (now on the Westerdok).
11. The Eilandskerk – built on Bickersgracht, at the edge of Bickerseiland – first opened its doors on 9 December 1736; it was demolished in 1950. On that Sunday morning J.P. Stricker conducted the 10 a.m. service at the Eilandskerk.
12. An allusion to the saying ‘I struggle and emerge victorious’, which in the Latin version – ‘Luctor et emergo’ – makes up part of the arms of the province of Zeeland.
13. Rom. 12:21.
14. Joan Marius van Houten.
15. Here Van Gogh offers a variation on 1 Cor. 12:26, ‘And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.’
16. Uncle Abraham Pompe and Aunt Elisabeth Pompe-Van Gogh.
17. Francina (Fanny) ’s Graeuwen and Elisabeth (Bet) Hubertha ’s Graeuwen, both daughters of Commander in the Dutch navy Abraham Anthonie ’s Graeuwen and Geertruida van Gogh, a sister of Mr van Gogh. Fanny (a teacher) and Bet were living at the time with their parents in Helvoirt.
18. Matt. 5:45.
19. Eph. 5:14.
20. Cf. Ps. 92:3 (in KJ Ps. 92:2): ‘To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning’ and 1 Chron. 23:30, ‘And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord’; presumably Van Gogh was quoting from another source.
21. Eccl. 11:7.
22. Alexandre Bida designed the illustrations for the deluxe folio volume Les Saints Evangiles. Translated by Bossuet. 2 vols. Paris 1873; they were made into etchings by various artists under the supervision of Pierre Edmond Alexandre Hédouin.
23. For the concept of the ‘Christian Workman’, which is derived from the text De christen-werkman als zendeling by Ottho Gerhard Heldring, see letter 109, n. 15.
24. Anton Mauve’s motto.
top