1. The letter in which Van Gogh wrote to Van Rappard about money that took a long time to arrive has been lost. As a result, it is impossible to know what Van Rappard had sent a postal order for; it may have been for prints Van Gogh had sent him (cf. letter 268 for a similar transaction).
2. After Van Gogh had sent a second series of drawings to Uncle Cor at the end of May 1882, he had to wait a long time, as he thought, for a reaction. When the answer came after a week, it turned out that Uncle Cor did not rate them very highly. Van Rappard knew about this from letter 236.
3. The lithograph must have been sent with the lost letter (see n. 1). Two lithographs are likely candidates: Old man (F 1658 / JH 256 [2408]) and Sorrow (F 1655 / JH 259 [2409]). Copies of both are known to have been in Van Rappard’s possession. Given that Van Gogh admits there are weaknesses in the drawing, it would seem that the first is the one in question, since he was particularly pleased with Sorrow. See Van Heugten and Pabst 1995, p. 37, cat. no. 1.
[2408] [2409]
4. A reference to the extract from Herkomer’s article that Van Rappard had sent (see letter 279). That the quote came from there is shown by letter 278 to Theo (n. 5), in which it is cited.
a. Means: ‘dat bespaart me erover te moeten schrijven’ (that saves my having to writing about it).
5. Also borrowed from the extract from Herkomer; see letter 278, n. 7.
6. In November 1882 Van Rappard and Willem Wenckebach had worked together on the large decoration The muse of history, which marked the 75th anniversary of the Utrecht artists’ society Kunstliefde, of which Van Rappard had been an active member since 1880. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, pp. 19-20.
7. ‘Old Mr Smits’ was the pen name used by the writer Mark Prager Lindo in countless humorous contributions to Dutch magazines and newspapers, which were collected in various editions. It is not clear which ‘practical piece’ Van Gogh means. It was probably ‘Over de belangrijkheid van de nietigheid’ (On the importance of insignificance) in Kompleete werken van den ouden heer Smits. Ed. Lodewijk Mulder. 5 vols. The Hague 1877, vol. 1, pp. 57-62. In this piece Smits attacks people from the upper classes who are condescending about all manner of social obligations (‘trifles’), while these are in fact their most important occupation, from which they derive part of their status. Another possibility is ‘Eene verzochte en eene geïmproviseerde partij’ (An obligatory and an improvised party) in Antwoorden, brieven en uitboezemingen van een der zonen van den ouden heer Smits. Amsterdam 1854, pp. 60-68. In it Smits contrasts the disagreeable and fatiguing nature of an obligatory reception with the pleasures of a party that comes about spontaneously.
Smits’s work had evidently been a subject of conversation or correspondence between Van Gogh and Van Rappard in the past.
8. Boughton’s painting The heir (present whereabouts unknown) was exhibited in 1873 in the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy in London (as no. 1062), which was held from 6 May to 4 August. Van Gogh, who lived in London from June 1873, could thus have seen it there.
The painting was certainly with Goupil in New York in 1875, for on 7 February 1875 Jervis McEntree noted in his diary that he had seen it there. (Smithsonian Archives of American Art. http: // www.aaa.si.edu / guides / site-jervis).
9. This drawing after Boughton has not survived; it is not clear for whom it was made.
10. The engraving The heir presumptive after Boughton (London, Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art). Ill. 614 [614].
[614]
11. Van Rappard must have written to Van Gogh about a current series of miners’ scenes by Paul Renouard, of which the following prints had appeared at that time: Le banquet des ouvriers mineurs de Saint-Etienne (The festive meal for the miners of Saint-Etienne) and Types de mineurs, (Types of miner) both in L’Illustration 80 (14 October 1882), pp. 244-245 (Ill. 2009 [2009] and Ill. 2010 [2010]); and Cour d’assises de Chalon-sur-Saone: L’affaire de Montceau-Les-Mines – Le banc des accusés, (The Court of Assizes of Chalon-sur-Saône: the Montceau-les-Mines case – The dock) engraved by Henry Thiriat, in L’Illustration 80 (4 November 1882), p. 293. Ill. 380 [380] (t*24).
[2009] [2010] [380]
12. For the series The orphanage [1956] [1957] [1970] [1959] [396] [395] [1978], see letter 268, n. 6.
[1956]
13. Van Rappard shared Van Gogh’s preference for depicting humble folk and working men.
14. On this Utrecht institution, see Nienke Bakker, ‘“In het belang der kunst”. Het Museum Kunstliefde 1873-1918’, De Negentiende Eeuw 24-2 (2000), pp. 122-140.
15. Van Rappard had probably given Van Gogh a daalder (1.50 guilders) on top of the amount he owed him (see n. 1 above) to ease the financial difficulties created by the loss of the money from Theo.
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