1. Vincent is referring to letter 192, ll. 23-24.

3. For these five painted still lifes and two watercolours, see letter 192, nn. 1 and 2.

a. Meaning: ‘opduiken’ (surface, here ‘arise’).

5. For the source of this phrase, borrowed from Petites misères de la vie humaine by Old Nick and Grandville, see letter 178, n. 6.

6. The Dutch ‘al te maal laria’ contains a pun on ‘allemaal larie’ (complete nonsens) and ‘al te Malaria’ (too much malaria).

7. Jan Jacob Lodewijk ten Kate, Goethe’s Faust (1878). In addition to expensive folio editions produced in 1878-1879 by the Leiden publisher A.W. Sijthoff, three inexpensive editions appeared on the market in 1881. See Brinkman 1850-1882.

8. This refers to Gretchen’s illegitimate child from Faust and her languishment on the edge of insanity. Their love had begun as sensual pleasure.

9. The expression ‘picking strawberries in the spring’ originated with Theo (see letter 182).

10. In February 1881 Mr and Mrs Stricker had moved to Keizersgracht 8. The evening in question was probably that of Thursday, 24 November.

11. Johannes Andries Stricker had obtained his doctorate in letters from Utrecht University and was employed as a lecturer (FR b2660 and SAAm, Adresboek 1882-1883).

12. Of the exhibitions held in 1881 at the artists’ society Arti et Amicitiae, three catalogues are known: Catalogus van de tentoonstelling van schilderijen enz. van Levende Meesters, Catalogus van de tentoonstelling van kunstwerken van Levende Meesters and Catalogus van de Tentoonstelling van teekeningen enz. (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Library. Shelf mark TS 3100-3102). They make no mention of the months in which the exhibitions were held, but the exhibitions of paintings were generally held in the autumn. Cf. Stolwijk 1998, p. 163.

13. Aunt Mina, Willemina C.G. Stricker-Carbentus.

14. In Du prêtre, de la femme, de la famille (1845) Jules Michelet claims that priests exercise power over women principally through the confessional. The result is divided families, with non-believing, anticlerical husbands at loggerheads with their pious wives. The harmony of the home is threatened by those whom Michelet describes as ‘enemies of the modern spirit’. Van Gogh was ‘wildly enthusiastic’ about this theory, as evidenced by a letter from the previously mentioned J.A. Stricker to Jo van Gogh-Bonger, in which he writes about ‘a trip Vincent made to Amsterdam about ten years ago now’ to show his drawings to Uncle Cor. ‘At the time I had two long visits from him, during which we did a lot of talking. On that occasion he spoke to me of Michelet’s “Le prêtre, la femme et la famille”. He was wildly enthusiastic about it’ (FR b2917, 17 February 1892).

b. Meaning: ‘arriveerde ik bij Mauve’ (I arrived at Mauve’s).

15. This phrase was taken from Jules Michelet’s L’amour (see letter 180, n. 2).

16. It is not known whether Van Gogh visited the woman described in this letter in Amsterdam or The Hague, though the latter venue is more likely. It has been assumed that she was Sien Hoornik, Vincent’s later model and lover, but there is no proof of this. Van Gogh claims to have met Sien only at the ‘end of January’ 1882 (see letter 228).

17. Taken from Jules Michelet’s L’amour (see letter 181, n. 10).

18. Regarding the insinuation that Theo also had experience of such matters, see, for instance, letter 42.

19. Cf. Ps. 51:7 (in KJ Ps. 51:5).

20. Taken from Jules Michelet’s L’amour (see letter 27, n. 2).

21. Van Gogh frequently makes ironical references to this remark made by Uncle Stricker, first doing so in letter 180.

22. A reference to the closing line of Het gebed van den onwetende. Uit het dagboek van een krankzinnige (1861) by Multatuli, pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker (Prayer of an unbeliever. From the diary of a madman). There were numerous editions of this poem (especially popular among free-thinkers); it was also reprinted many times in socialist and anarchist circles. See Multatuli, Volledige werken. 7 vols. Amsterdam 1950-1953, vol. 1, pp. 473-478.

23. Drawing parallels between being in love and eating strawberries was something that originated with Theo (see letter 182).

24. Cf. Matt. 7:3-5 and Luke 6:41-42.

25. Taken from the poem ‘Onvermoeid’ (Tireless) by P.A. de Génestet: see letter 179, n. 4.

26. This utterance is quoted again in letter 458, where the word ‘énergique’ has been added.

27. Before he became an apostle, Simon Petrus was a ‘fisher’ (Matt. 4:18).

28. Cf. Ps. 27:13.

29. The Tigris and the Euphrates are two large rivers in Asia Minor, which converge at Korna and then flow into the Persian Gulf. The Euphrates is also mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

30. Anna Carbentus, one of the daughters of Sophie (Fie) Cornelia Elisabeth van Bemmel and Arie Carbentus – a brother both of Mrs van Gogh and of Willemina C.G. Stricker-Carbentus, Uncle Stricker’s wife – married the painter Adolf Lecomte. The marriage ceremony was performed by Uncle Stricker. Mauve’s presence at the wedding can be explained by the fact that he had married Anna’s sister Jet in November 1874 and also gave Lecomte advice on painting. The marriage took place on 14 July 1881 in The Hague (GAH).

31. Probably Cornelius Johannes van Zuijlen, who was known as Pater (Father) Bernhard. A priest since 1867, he was active in Rotterdam in 1869, in Delft in 1871 and as chaplain of the Heilige Antonius van Paduakerk in The Hague in 1883 (Nijmegen, Katholiek Documentatiecentrum).