1. Theo travelled to Paris on 1 May – he turned 21 that day – where he was to assist at Goupil & Cie’s stand at the World Exhibition, which opened on 1 May and lasted for six months.

2. Around 8 May, Lies spent two days sitting her exams in English and French, but she was ill and did not pass them (FR b977).

3. Cf. 1 Kings 17:24.

4. The landscapes and townscapes painted by Richard Parkes Bonington often contain large, conspicuous clouds, such as seen in A road

. See letter 37, n. 11.

5. Upon his arrival in Paris, Theo took up residence at 46 rue de la Tour d’Auvergne, south of boulevard de Clichy, in the 9th arrondissement (FR b978).

6. District in the northern part of Paris.

7. For A cooper and The seamstress

by Frère, see letter 37, nn. 21 and 20.

8. Ps. 91:5 and Song of Sol. 3:8.

10. Cf. Eccl. 7:2-4.

11. 1 Cor. 12:26. Vos was Uncle Stricker’s son-in-law.

13. The Rev. Frederik Carel Antonius Pantekoek died on 6 May. He was buried amid great public interest on 11 May in Zorgvlied cemetery on the River Amstel; several newspapers covered the event.

14. It is not certain which work Van Gogh is referring to here, though he assumes that Theo understands what he is talking about. It is possible that he was thinking of the well-known In memoriam (1849) by Alfred Tennyson, or the poem ‘In memoriam’ by P.A. de Génestet. Cf. De Génestet 1869, vol. 2, pp. 274-280.

15. Pantekoek had five sons and one daughter. The eldest was Johan Marius Jacob, born on 8 July 1857.

16. On Sunday, 12 May 1878, Stricker conducted the 10 a.m. service in the Oudezijdskapel.

17. The orphans were housed in the Burgerweeshuis (Civic Orphanage), located in Kalverstraat and Sint-Luciënsteeg (now the Amsterdam Museum). The ‘Kweekschool voor de zeevaart’ (Nautical College) was housed in the former Stadswerkhuis (City Workhouse) on the Buitenkant (now Gelderse Kade; on 4 May 1878, King Willem iii laid the first stone of the new, imposing accommodations at Prins Hendrikkade 189-190).

22. On Sunday, 12 May, early services were conducted at 7 a.m. by the Rev. H. Steenberg in the Noorderkerk and by L. Steinfort in the Zuiderkerk.

23. Jules Michelet, Histoire de la Révolution Française (1847-1853).

24. Théophile Gautier, Portraits contemporains. Littératures, peintres, sculpteurs, artistes dramatiques (1874). Van Gogh did not specify which Salon reports and art reviews by E.J.T. Thoré he had in mind; he had previously sent Theo Musées de la Hollande, ii. Musée Van der Hoop, à Amsterdam et Musée de Rotterdam. Paris 1860; see letter 111.

25. Rembrandt lived from 1639 to 1658 in the house at Jodenbreestraat 6, now known as the Rembrandthuis.

26. For Theo’s visits to Vincent, see letter 143.

27. Jules Joseph Dauban, Réception d’un etranger chez les Trappistes

; see letters 35 and 55; the reference is to Matt. 10:40.

28. Regarding this trip, see letter 40. On 4 March 1817, Corot’s parents bought a house in Ville-d’Avray. From 1822 onwards, this village and its environs became Corot’s favourite places, and he returned there every year to study. See exhib. cat. Paris 1996, p. 16.

29. Frans Braat, an employee of Goupil & Cie, and Theo’s roommate (FR b995).

30. This Mutters has not been identified.

31. This probably refers to one of the portrait photographs made of Theo by a photographer (Lavieter & Co.) in The Hague (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b4793). Ill. 1879

. There was also an en face version of this photograph.