1. From ll. 44-45 it emerges that the brothers discussed their duties and their vocation: Theo was to become acquainted with Goupil in Paris, and Vincent was planning to become a catechist. Mr van Gogh had advised Vincent against this on 16 March 1878 (FR b970), and had complained of it before to Theo: ‘Is it any wonder that we feel pain and sorrow upon discovering that he has absolutely no joy in life? But he continues to plod on, with his head bowed, whereas we did what we could to help him towards an honourable goal! It is as though he deliberately chooses the difficult path’ (FR b968, 2 March 1878).

Theo, now on his sales trip for Goupil, planned his visit to Amsterdam to coincide with Vincent’s birthday on 30 March (FR b973 and b974).

Mr van Gogh asked Theo for his impression of Vincent: ‘We think it strange that we have had no letter from him, not even after his birthday. He doesn’t write as regularly as he used to. I do so fear that he feels very unhappy in himself, but what can one do about it? We encourage him, and give him the opportunity to continue his studies, even though we hardly know how we shall manage. It’s a sickly existence that he has made for himself, I’m afraid, and how much he will still have to struggle, and we with him. Tell us whether you visited him and how you found him’ (FR b973, 1 April 1878).

2. Taken from Jules Michelet, Histoire de la Révolution française. 2 vols. Paris n.d., vol. 1, p. 32. There are various editions of this book. The volumes in which Michelet treated the period from 1789 until the execution of Robespierre in 1794 appeared from 1847 to 1853. He later expanded this already sizeable work by including the history of events up to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Michelet attributed the most important role in the French Revolution to the people, and based his work on thorough archival research.

3. It is possible that Van Gogh borrowed this common expression, originally stemming from French court culture of the seventeenth century, from Michelet’s L’amour: ‘but the universal, agreeable man, who is well-versed in everything, the kind Louis xiv’s century admired and commended, the kind people called the “decent man”’ (mais l’homme universel et agréable, qui se connait à tout, ce que le siècle de Louis xiv admirait et recommandait, ce qu’on appelait “l’honnête homme”’. Michelet, L’amour, p. 271).

4. The constitution that was drawn up at the time of the French Revolution.

5. Both phrases occur in Victor Hugo, Les contemplations, in book 3, chapter 30 ‘Magnitudo parvi’, and book 6, chapter 23 ‘Les mages’, respectively. Ed. Pierre Albouy. Paris 1990, pp. 204, 374. It is however uncertain whether Van Gogh, who in fact links these phrases to the constitution, actually took them from this work. Cf. letter 309, 388 and the saying ‘a ray from on high’ in letter 368 in a quotation from Michelet. For the related phrase ‘something on high’, see letter 288, n. 15.

7. Van Gogh could have taken this phrase from Taine’s essay on Carlyle in Histoire de la littérature anglaise (see Taine 1874, vol. 5, p. 282 (chapter 4)). That he was familiar with it emerges from letter 133.

11. Thomas a Kempis, L’Imitation de Jésus-Christ, book I, chapter 25, 2. Van Gogh cited the title of this book in letter 129, see letter 129, n. 24

12. The French Revolution.

13. Homer, The Odyssey, the antique tale of the wanderings of Odysseus.

14. Jules Breton, Mauvaises herbes (Weeds) (present whereabouts unknown), exhibited at the 1869 Salon, was once part of the Wilstach Collection (USA). The work was reproduced in Album Boetzel. Le Salon 1869; the same reproduction appeared in Philippe Burty, ‘L’Album Boetzel. Salon de 1869’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts 11 (1869), 2nd series, pp. 252-263 (ill. on p. 257). Ill. 21

15. For Jean-François Millet, The four times of the day

, see letter 37, n. 16.

16. Charles Degroux, Saying grace>, c. 1861 (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts). Ill. 135

. There were various versions of this painting. See exhib. cat. Ypres 1995, pp. 102-108, cat. no. 97-111.

17. For Gustave Brion, Saying grace , see letter 142, n. 5.

18. Van Gogh’s mention of Charles Degroux’s The conscript no doubt refers to The conscript’s return (present whereabouts unknown) and not one of the two versions of The conscript’s departure, which Van Gogh says in letter 164 not to have known previously. Ill. 137

. See exhib. cat. Ypres 1995, pp. 97-101, cat. nos. 69-90, esp. no. 78.

19. For Henri Conscience, Le conscrit, see letter 89.

20. A work by Degroux titled Apothecary has not been traced. Perhaps Van Gogh is referring to the Study for the doctor’s visit, The doctor’s visit or The quack (present whereabouts of all three paintings unknown). Cf. exhib. cat. Ypres 1995, pp. 88, 135, cat. nos. 42-43, 256.

21. For Jules Dupré, The large oaks

, see letter 137, n. 21.

22. Georges Michel painted numerous landscapes, a number of which appear in the series of reproductions published by Durand-Ruel; cf. letter 73.

25. Taken from Emile Souvestre, Les derniers bretons. Paris 1858, vol. 2, p. 227: ‘O toilers! You lead a hard life in this world ... O toilers! You suffer in life; toilers, you are truly fortunate! ... brothers, life is sad’. (O laboureurs! vous menez une vie dure dans le monde ... O laboureurs! vous souffrez dans la vie; laboureurs, vous êtes bien heureux! ... frères la vie est triste). Van Gogh copied this passage into one of the poetry albums. See Pabst 1988, p. 29.

26. Stemming from Lamennais’s text Amschaspands et Darvands, quoted in letter 120, n. 24.

27. Read: ‘indefessus (or indefessi)’ – ‘tirelessly with God’s grace’. See also letter 136, n. 28.

a. Lees: ‘good (in the sense of being prudent) that ...’.

29. Mr van Gogh’s expression ‘I never despair’ is frequently quoted; it could have been derived from hymn 56:1 and hymn 56:9.

31. These three references to Jules Michelet were all taken from his L’oiseau. The first refers to a translation of a poem by Rückert which appears in the chapter ‘Suite des migrations. L’hirondelle’. The second is part of the chapter ‘Le chant’. The last was taken from the title of the chapter ‘Le rossignol, l’art en l’infini’ (Michelet 1861, pp. 152-153, 196-204 and 243-253, respectively). Van Gogh copied ‘L’hirondelle’ and ‘Le rossignol’ into one of the poetry albums; see Pabst 1988, pp. 14-16.

32. ‘Les aspirations de l’automne’ is the title of a chapter in Michelet’s L’amour and ‘Je vois d’ici une dame’ the beginning of a passage within that chapter (see letter 14, n. 19). Van Gogh had copied the piece earlier, both for his brother – in letter 14 and in a poetry album – and for Annie Slade-Jones, his former landlady in London; see Pabst 1988, pp. 22, 65.

33. ‘J’aimais cette petite ville singulière’ has been taken from Michelet’s La mer (1861), book 1, ‘Un regard sur les mers’, chapter 2, ‘Plages, grèves et falaises’, which describes the pleasant seaside town of Granville in Normandy. Ed. Paris 1861, pp. 13-20 (quotation on p. 14). This also occurs in a poetry album made for Theo, as well as on a loose sheet containing several texts (see RM5). See Pabst 1988, pp. 13, 87. In La mer, Michelet describes in a lyrical, discursive manner the relationship between man and the sea.

39. This conviction was inspired in part by Mr van Gogh, who urged Vincent to seek human society in order to improve his social skills. See letter 141, l. 55.

40. This pronouncement can be traced to a conversation Van Gogh had with the Rev. Gagnebin; see letter 142.

41. Robinson Crusoe is the protagonist of Daniel Defoe’s novel The life and strange surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, mariner (1719), the story of a man who lived for years in isolation on a tropical island. His physical and moral survival is due to his strength of mind and resourceful nature.

42. Van Gogh is perhaps referring to the native Friday, Robinson Crusoe’s companion during his last years on the island.

44. Regarding the conscience as a gift of God, see letter 133, n. 12.

45. Cf. Matt. 11:29.

46. Matt. 11:25; cf. Luke 10:21.

47. Cf. 1 Cor. 13:13.

49. ‘(Let us) raise our hearts on high’. An old liturgical exclamation uttered upon the elevation of the Eucharist; cf. Lam. 3:41, ‘Nun levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in caelos’. ‘Sursum corda’ was Thomas Moore’s motto. Cf. also hymn 43, ‘Hoog, omhoog, het hart naar boven’ (Raise, on high, our hearts to the heavens) and Pabst 1988, p. 62.

54. Vincent must have sent this letter to Theo’s temporary address. The sales trip lasted for several weeks: Theo had already visited Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam before 4 April, but by 19 April the trip had evidently come to an end. In this period Theo paid Vincent a second visit (FR b1085, H.G. Tersteeg to Theo, 4 April, and FR b975).

55. See letter 141 with regard to August Carel Adler’s Sunday school in Barndesteeg. Mr van Gogh was not very enthusiastic about Vincent’s attachment to the Sunday school; over a week later he wrote to Theo: ‘I received a detailed letter from Vincent. He wanted so much to continue with that Sunday school, but even though I allowed him not to break it off so abruptly, I seriously advised him yet again to distance himself from it, in view of the great amount of work required by his studies and because of the danger of putting his heart into an activity of secondary importance and neglecting the main issue. Did you visit him? And how did you find him? We heard from the Strickers that they had once again been delighted to have him stay with them’ (FR b974, 12 April 1878).