1. This unknown letter sent by Vincent to Elisabeth was probably what prompted her to write a short while later to Theo: ‘Sometimes I feel positively estranged from Vincent. I have so little need of writing to him and am so little reconciled to the spirit of letter-writing that is so much a part of him’ (FR b2557, 23 September 1877).
2. Van Gogh was not completely alone: Uncle Jan employed a housekeeper, Elisabeth Maria Rijsinge, as well as a maidservant, Adriana Margaretha Faber. See Groot and De Vries 1990, p. 41.
3. For Thomas a Kempis, L’imitation de Jésus-Christ, see letter 38, n. 5.
4. Regarding Luis Ruipérez, The imitation of Jesus Christ [1689], see letter 40, n. 16.
[1689]
5. For Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, Oraisons funèbres, see letter 85, n. 18.
6. Cf. Prov. 15:15.
7. Cf. Eph. 6:13.
8. 1 Tim. 6:12.
9. Cf. Ps. 43:3.
10. On 1 September, Anna Jacoba Maria Geertruida Richard-Nieuwenhuis had fallen down the stairs in Uncle Vincent’s house in Princenhage. She was married to Jacques Jeremie Richard, the minister of the Hervormde Gemeente (Reformed Congregation) at Vlissingen (GAB).
11. Prov. 15:15.
12. To be read as: the two of us are being similarly tested by life; cf. Luke 23:40.
13. 1 Cor. 7:31-32.
14. Biblical.
15. Cf. Ps. 10:14.
16. Cf. Luke 8:15.
17. 1 Kings 19:15.
18. Cf. John 1:1-2.
19. Jas. 1:17.
20. Ps. 51:12 (in KJ Ps. 51:10).
21. 1 John 2:28.
22. Cf. the saying ‘Doe wel en zie niet om’ (Do well and don’t look back), meaning that those who act virtuously may have a clear conscience; cf. Luke 9:62.
23. Luke 23:46.
24. See Thomas a Kempis’ De navolging van Christus (Imitation of Christ); title of book i, chapter 25: ‘Over de ijverige verbetering van ons gansche leven’ (On the diligent improvement of our whole life); cf. also book iv, chapter 1: ‘Allen, die zich door het geloof aan U hebben verbonden, en hun geheele leven der heiligmaking wijden’ (All those who have bound themselves to you by their faith and devote their whole lives to sanctification). Thomas a Kempis 1986, pp. 33, 134.
25. This sentence comes from one of Theo’s letters; see letter 117.
26. A saying.
27. John 3:7.
28. Cf. Ps. 119:105.
29. Biblical, occurring especially in the Gospel according to Saint John.
30. 2 Cor. 7:10.
31. For Rembrandt, Pilgrims at Emmaus [1710], see letter 34, n. 5.
[1710]
32. Acts 26:29.
33. Biblical.
34. See Matt. 7:3-5 and Luke 6:41-42.
35. This charcoal drawing has not been traced.
36. Gustave Doré and [William] Blanchard Jerrold, London – A pilgrimage. London 1872. By ‘similar subjects’ Van Gogh meant the print Scripture reader in a night refuge (facing p. 142). The illustration, mentioned in letter 267, is in the estate: Een nachtverblijf te Londen, from De Katholieke Illustratie 6 (1872-1873), no. 25, p. 197. Ill. 792 [792]. (t*171).
[792]
37. For the family of Jeremias Posthumus Meijjes, see letter 128, n. 6.
38. Exod. 3:5.
39. On Sunday, 2 September, J.P. Stricker preached at 10 a.m. in the Nieuwe Kerk.
40. Regarding the Jewish quarter, see letter 120, n. 37. For these themes in the lithographs and paintings of Charles Degroux, see exhib. cat. Ypres 1995 and letter 273, n. 37.
41. Biblical.
42. Matt. 9:24.
43. In addition to the Trippenhuis, the nearby Museum Van der Hoop, housed in the former Oude Mannenhuis (Old Men’s House), was at that time one of Amsterdam’s most popular museums. See Honderd jaar Rijksmuseum 1985, pp. 12-13.
44. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christ: a mystery (1872). The book consists of The divine tragedy (1871), The golden legend (1851) and The New England tragedies (1868). The six passages copied out by Van Gogh were all taken from The divine tragedy and are almost literal quotations from the Bible.
45. Taken from ‘The first passover. 6. The sea of Galilee’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, p. 45.
46. From ‘The first passover. 10. The house of Simon the Pharisee’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, p. 56.
47. From ‘The second passover. 6. Jacob’s well’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, p. 74.
48. From ‘The second passover. 8. The young ruler’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, pp. 81-82.
49. From ‘The second passover. 8. The young ruler’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, p. 82.
50. From ‘The third passover. 4. The garden of Gethsemane’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, p. 107. Van Gogh wrote ‘one hour’ (l. 169) where Longfellow has ‘for one hour’.
51. From ‘The third passover. 4. The garden of Gethsemane’. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 5, pp. 106-107.
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