1. It is not known exactly when Anthon van Rappard’s visit took place; see Date. In the introduction to her edition of the letters, Jo van Gogh-Bonger quoted Van Rappard’s recollections of the visit from a letter that is now presumably lost. See Brieven 1914, p. xxxiv; also in Pickvance 1992, pp. 102-103.

2. Near Seppe, a village approximately 5 km west of Etten, Van Rappard made the drawing Landscape near Seppe, dated ‘Seppe 14 juni’ (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, p. 70, cat. no. 57.

3. The Passievaart, or Pagnevaart, is between the parishes of Hoeven and Bosschenhoofd, about 5 km from Etten-Leur. The marsh in the present-day nature reserve ‘Pagnevaart’ could be the remains of an old peat canal (RAW). Here Van Rappard made the drawing The Passievaart near Seppe, dated ‘Seppe 13 Juni ’81’ (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, pp. 32-33, 70, cat. no. 56.

4. The painted study is not known. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, p. 70.

5. The other known drawings by Van Rappard which date from this period are: The parsonage at Etten, dated ‘Etten, 14 Juni ’81’ (private collection); Country road near Princenhage, dated ‘Prinsenhage-Etten 15 Juni ’81’ (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum); and Reader

(Utrecht, Centraal Museum). Two other drawings (both watercolours) were possibly made during Van Rappard’s stay in Etten: Street in a village and Farmhouse with trees (both Utrecht, Centraal Museum). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, pp. 71-72, cat. nos. 58-62. The Liesbos is a wooded area east of Etten.

6. Van Gogh made two drawings of this spot: Marsh with water lilies (F 845 / JH 7

) and Marsh (F 846 / JH 8

7. Uncle Vincent van Gogh.

8. Van Rappard’s parents lived at Heerenstraat, A 1173 (now Herenstraat 23 and 23 bis) in Utrecht.

9. A place c. 8 km north of Utrecht, located in an area with a great deal of water.

10. Armand Théophile Cassagne’s Traité d’aquarelle (1875) is a textbook treating the art of watercolour. It explains materials, the various types of paper, the use of colour, techniques, and how to approach nature subjects. The fourth part contains a discussion of sepia (Cassagne 1875, pp. 231-239).

11. Van Gogh doubtless means ‘since I’ve been in Etten’, because there is certainly watercolour in several of his previous drawings.

12. ‘Heighten’ is a technical term meaning ‘to brighten up paint that has become dull with varnish’. Van Gogh means that he worked up the drawing with pen, i.e. ink, by elaborating on it and applying accents here and there.

13. These drawings of workshops are not known.

14. On 2 July 1881 Willemien began work as a governess in the employ of the widow Adriana Maria Scheffer-Michielsen, living at Herensingel 21 in Weesp (near Amsterdam), who had five young daughters. Willemien registered as a resident of Weesp on 5 July (GAW).

15. Drawings for which Willemien posed are not known. Hulsker suspects that F 849 / JH 11

was made from a photograph (cf. Hulsker 1996, p. 14 and letter 169, n. 4). Van Gogh seems here to be speaking of a figure study rather than a portrait. Cf. cat. Amsterdam 1996, pp. 32-33. Piet Kaufmann – the family’s gardener, who also posed for Vincent – recalled later: ‘Willemien, his sister, also posed for him, beneath the walnut tree in the garden’. See ‘Tuinman van dominee Van Gogh vertelt zijn herinneringen over Vincent’, Gazet van Antwerpen, 3 December 1953.

16. We do not know who this guest was. The drawing with the sewing machine is not known.

17. In the nineteenth century many peasants in rural Brabant earned part of their living spinning yarn for textile manufacturers. However, the industrialization that took place in the second half of the century caused the gradual disappearance of this cottage industry. See Van den Eerenbeemt 1977, espec. pp. 60-70.

18. A province in the east of the Netherlands with large wooded areas, where Dutch landscape painters often worked.

19. Van Rappard had spent some time in Paris (see letter 166).

20. The catalogue of the Salon, Explication des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants exposés au Palais des Champs-Elysées le 2 mai 1881. Paris 1881.