1. The letter was written immediately after the end of Theo’s meeting with Vincent; the opening line suggests that Vincent put him on the train, but that is not certain. All we know about the date and length of the visit is that Theo arrived in The Hague on 17 August (see letter 373); how long he stayed there is not known. But given that in letter 373 Vincent says that the brothers would have little time and that Theo was in a hurry, it seems likely that Theo left The Hague on the same or the following day.

2. In September 1882 Mr van Gogh had paid him an unexpected visit, which Vincent described at the time as ‘very pleasing’ (see letter 269).

3. Van Gogh added ‘which ... told me’ later.

4. An allusion to a prayer by Mr van Gogh: see letter 42, n. 2.

5. This passage and a later one in the letter, as well as remarks in letter 376, seem to imply that Theo had suggested to Vincent that he should try to get work as an illustrator for the London magazines. Vincent had himself alluded to that in earlier letters, and evidently Theo had reacted positively (see letter 361). Now, however, Vincent appears to be reconsidering the idea; cf. also letter 376. In addition, Theo must have suggested he should consider leaving Sien.

6. Probably La Fontaine’s fable ‘A miller, his son and their ass’, to which Van Gogh referred earlier; see letter 154, n. 9.

7. This is the episode of Van Gogh’s love for his cousin Kee Vos and the cooling of relations with Tersteeg and Mauve.

8. As shown by letter 376, the brothers had discussed whether or not the relationship with Sien should be continued.

9. Mesdag did not begin painting until rather late in life (in 1866); originally he was to be a banker. At about the age of 40 he achieved wide recognition as a painter after winning a gold medal for the seascape Les brisants de la mer du Nord (The breakers of the North Sea) in 1870 at the Paris Salon. See Poort 1992, pp. 42-43, 50 ff.