1r:1
Amsterdam, 21 October 1877

My dear Theo,
Want to make sure you get a few lines again soon, yesterday a good letter from Etten from which I understood that you had already been there and are expected back on Saturday evening, to spend Sunday at home as well. So you’re probably there now too, and it will be a good Sunday.
Was at the early service this morning (Noorderkerk),1 afterwards walked around town a bit, the canals are especially beautiful now that the leaves on the trees have the colours of autumn, and then went to the English church2 and heard a very good sermon on ‘Take no thought (for your life) saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you, Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof’.3 And he also spoke of the preceding ‘Behold the fowls of the air’4 and Consider the lilies of the field.5 There was a fairly large and pleasant congregation. I’m very fond of that little church, and many a person there probably recalls things and places that aren’t unfamiliar to me either.
Have you ever seen or read the book by Esquiros, La vie Anglaise (or L’Angleterre et la vie Anglaise?)?6 I haven’t, but I think it must be an interesting book.
If you have the time and the inclination, think of that piece by Jules Breton,7 and that other one by Michelet.8
Uncle Jan is going to Leiden tomorrow, from there to Middelburg, and will in all likelihood also go briefly to Princenhage,9 where Pa may well meet Uncle.
Did you have a good trip? Write a few lines soon, it was a wonderful surprise when you came here that evening.10 (NB: the woman at the station had been slightly surprised at our hasty departure.) It was nice that we saw Mauve there. Coming back home, I sat up working for a long time. That was a week ago already, the days fly by.  1v:2
How beautiful that engraving after Ary Scheffer is, The holy women at the tomb of Christ,11 I’m so pleased to have it, especially that old woman, that’s it.12
Did you happen to pick up anything for your scrapbook en route?13 Do continue with it, for it’s a very good thing.
This morning I saw the Minister of the Navy, Taalman Kip,14 who paid Uncle a visit and took coffee here. How much character there is in that face and in those grey eyes, His Excellency immediately reminded me of old Mr Goupil,15 or someone like Guizot.16 It’s good to remember such faces, because it’s food for the soul. I don’t know why, but I’ve been thinking the whole week of that painting and the etching after it of ‘A young citizen of the year V’ by Jules Goupil.17 I saw the painting in Paris,18 indescribably beautiful and unforgettable. All those French paintings about the days of the Revolution,19 such as The Girondists20 and Last victims of the terror21 and Marie Antoinette22 by Delaroche and Muller, and that Young citizen and other paintings by Goupil,23 and then Anker24 and so many others, what a beautiful whole they form with many books, such as those by Michelet25 and Carlyle26 and also Dickens (Tale of two cities).27 In all of that combined there’s something of the spirit which is that of the Resurrection and the Life, which shall live though it seems dead,28 for it is not dead, but it sleepeth.29
I’d so much like to read a lot, but I may not, though actually I needn’t yearn for it, for all things are in the words of Christ — more perfect and more glorious than in any other words. That etching by Jules Goupil hung for a very long time in my room in London in the days when I was very wrapped up in Michelet and other French writers, I believe Harry Gladwell has that etching now. Had a short letter from him since his return to Paris, would like to walk with him again on a day like today in the twilight along the Seine by Notre-Dame.30 Paris is so enchantingly beautiful in the autumn, and that spot not the least so. How beautiful the winter chrysanthemums in London will be in the little gardens, and they bloom there the whole winter long.  1v:3
Are you planning to read any books in particular this winter, ‘cost what it may’? Sometimes it’s good to persevere and get on with it. Uncle Jan has also read a lot, and there are very many things31 in him. A like-mindedness and devotion and love like that between Pa and Uncle, that is good fruit32 of life, and even if that holy fire smoulders now and then because of worries and daily things, sometimes it flares up, bright and dazzling and glorious. As, for instance, that evening last winter when those two went to Hoeven together.

The top of Mount Hekla is white with the snow,
But inside its fire through the ages doth glow,
O Thou, though with winter on thy greying head,
Love, God’s own flame, in the heart is not dead.33

We have certainly seen what that means and we do know something about it. Such a fire of Spirit and Love is a Power of God34 against the dark and evil and terrible things of the world and the dark side of life, it is a power of the Resurrection35 stronger than death, and a light of hope that gives an awareness and an assurance in the depths and in the secret recesses of the heart, the expression of which are the words, which are simple but say much: I never despair.36
Now, old boy, I still have to work and must stop, I wish you well, be blessed, and may God give you and me and all of us the life that is more than meat,37 the life of doing God’s Word. Just look in art and in books and see whether you might find something, for it is written, Seek and ye shall find,38 and: If any of you is in need of wisdom, let him ask of God.39 And that we need. How is Caroline? Give them my regards, and to your housemates too, and to Mauve and Mr Tersteeg if the occasion arises.
In thought a hearty handshake, and believe me

Your loving brother
Vincent

The portrait of Johan van Gogh40 bears some resemblance to that Young Citizen.
It, too, reminds me again of ‘sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing’,41 those words are perceivable in many things.

 1r:4
Regards from Uncle Jan too.

132

Br. 1990: 131 | CL: 111
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Amsterdam, Sunday, 21 October 1877
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1. The Rev. Lieuwe Steinfort conducted the 7.30 service in the Noorderkerk.
2. The ‘English church’ is the Reformed Church of the Presbyterians in the Begijnhof. On 21 October 1877, the Rev. William Macfarlane preached there at 10 a.m.
3. Matt. 6:31-34.
4. Matt. 6:26.
5. Matt. 6:28.
6. Henri François Alphonse Esquiros, L’Angleterre et la vie anglaise. 5 vols. Paris 1859-1869. The book describes the origins of the English landscape, and discusses British customs and aspects of English society.
7. It is not clear which excerpt from Breton Van Gogh is referring to here. Compare, in this context, letter 139, in which he asks for ‘The labourer’.
8. Van Gogh is probably referring here to the excerpt ‘Je vois d’ici une dame’ from Michelet’s L’amour, which is mentioned repeatedly in the correspondence; see letter 14, n. 19.
9. Uncle Vincent van Gogh, a brother of Mr van Gogh and Uncle Jan, lived in Princenhage.
10. Nothing more is known about this visit, which according to the continuation of the letter took place on Saturday, 13 and/or Sunday, 14 October; the surprise of Theo’s visit was probably all the greater because he had just been to stay with Vincent between 2 and 6 October (FR b2558, b2559 and b2562). These visits explain why nearly five weeks – a relatively long time – elapsed between the previous letter and this one.
11. An engraving after Ary Scheffer, The entombment of Christ [1781] (The holy women at the sepulchre): see letter 98, n. 14.
[1781]
12. The motto of Anton Mauve, who is mentioned in the previous paragraph.
13. The estate contains two scrapbooks that belonged to Theo; see letter 111, n. 3.
14. Willem Frederik van Erp Taalman Kip, the Dutch Naval Minister and therefore Uncle Jan’s highest-ranking superior.
15. Adolphe Goupil, founder of the concern Goupil & Cie.
16. François Guizot, known as a historian and statesman; cf. letter 85, n. 22.
17. Jules Adolphe Goupil, A young citizen of the year v, 1873 (present whereabouts unknown). In addition to listing a photograph after this painting, in 1874 Goupil & Cie published the etching Un jeune citoyen de l’an v, engraved by Adolphe Martial (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 1854 [1854] and Ill. 1855 [1855].
[1854] [1855]
18. A young citizen of the year v [1854] was exhibited at the 1873 Salon; it was also on display at the exhibition held to mark the opening of Goupil’s London branch in May 1874. See exhib. cat. London 1992, p. 129, cat. no. 46.
[1854]
19. The time of the French Revolution in 1789. ‘The year v’ in the title refers to the republican calendar.
20. Of The Girondists (present whereabouts unknown) by Paul Delaroche, Goupil’s list featured photographs and engravings in various sizes and price categories, including a large coloured engraving Les Girondins by Edouard Henri Girardet (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 759 [759].
[759]
21. Charles Louis Lucien Muller, The last victims of the terror (Versailles, Musée National de Château). Goupil produced the photogravure Les dernières victimes de la terreur and also published a photograph after the painting, which appeared in the ‘Carte-album’ series (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 1185 [1185].
[1185]
22. In addition to engravings and photographs after Delaroche’s 1851 painting of Marie-Antoinette leaving the revolutionary tribunal (present whereabouts unknown), in 1857 Goupil also published the engraving Marie-Antoinette sortant du tribunal révolutionnaire made after it by Alphonse François (Bordeaux, Musée Goupil). Ill. 760 [760]. There were also prints in circulation of Marie-Antoinette as she appears in this depiction.
[760]
23. Jules Goupil likewise painted, among other things, In 1795, which was exhibited at the 1875 Salon.
24. A painting by Albert Anker set in that period is The ‘Länderkinder’. The war of 1798, 1876 (Neuchâtel, Musée d’art et d’histoire), which was on display at the 1877 Salon.
25. Jules Michelet treated the revolutionary period in his extensive Histoire de la Révolution française (1847-1853), also published as Histoire de la Révolution.
26. Van Gogh knew parts of the dramatized story of The French Revolution (1837) by Thomas Carlyle, probably through Histoire de la littérature anglaise by Hippolyte Taine (see letter 133).
27. Charles Dickens, A tale of two cities (1859), a historical novel about London and Paris at the time of the French Revolution.
28. John 11:25.
29. Matt. 9:24.
30. The cathedral of Notre-Dame stands on the Ile de la Cité, an island in the River Seine in the centre of Paris.
a. Read: ‘chrysantemums’ (chrysanthemums).
31. Biblical.
32. Biblical.
33. Vincent’s transcription displays only a few minor deviations from the source text:

Vuur onder sneeuw
De top van den Hekla is wit van sneeuw,
Maar ’t vuur in zijn binnenst’ gloeit eeuw aan eeuw;
O, Mensch! laat het wintren op ’t grijzend hoofd,
Als Liefde, Gods vlam, niet in ’t hart verdooft!

(Fire below snow
The top of the Hekla is white with snow,
But inside its fire through the ages doth glow;
O, Man! let winter deck thy greying head,
If Love, God’s flame, in the heart not be dead.)

Published in J.J.L. ten Kate, Uit den vreemde. Vertaalde poëzy (From abroad. Translated poetry). Leiden (A.W. Sijthoff), n.d., p. 70 (Amsterdam, Universiteitsbibliotheek). This volume does not say who wrote the original poem. The Hekla is a volcano in Iceland, famous for its frequent and lengthy eruptions.
34. Biblical.
35. Cf. Phil. 3:10.
36. This frequently quoted expression of Mr van Gogh could be derived from hymn 56:1 and hymn 56:9.
37. Matt. 6:25 and Luke 12:23.
38. Matt. 7:7 and Luke 11:9.
39. Jas. 1:5.
40. Johan van Gogh was Uncle Jan’s son. The portrait is unidentified.
41. 2 Cor. 6:10.