1. In his last letter from Drenthe Van Gogh had written: ‘I’ll be able to write to you more calmly from home’ (letter 408, l. 194).

2. Van Gogh had not been home since Christmas 1881; his parents moved to Nuenen in August 1882, so this was the first time he had seen their house.

3. This walk must have taken place on Tuesday, 4 December (see Date).

4. Van Gogh had considered a job with one of the illustrated magazines. For the publishing house Moniteur Universel, see letter 406, n. 3.

5. In the seventeenth century the trade in tulip bulbs had taken off; speculation was so extreme, particularly in 1636-1637, that it became pure gambling, in other words the tulips were sold on immediately to get the profit on the price difference. See Simon Schama, The embarrassment of riches. An interpretation of Dutch culture in the Golden Age. London 1987, pp. 350-365.

a. Means: ‘mij er opmerkzaam op maken’ (draw my attention to it).

b. Variant form of ‘kleiner’ (smaller); it is possible that Van Gogh wrote ‘kleiner’.

6. Van Gogh most probably gleaned this information from Musées de la Hollande by E.J.T. Thoré (writing under the pseudonym W. Bürger): ‘If Rembrandts have left Holland, it is decidedly the fault of the debased taste of the Dutch amateurs of the eighteenth century. At public sales then, Rembrandts sold for 20 florins! but Van der Werffs and Lairesses fetched as much as 3 or 4,000 florins!’ (Si les Rembrandt ont quitté la Hollande, c’est bien la faute du goût dégradé des amateurs hollandais au XVIIIe siècle. Les Rembrandt se payaient alors en vente publique ... 20 florins! mais les van der Werff et les Lairesse montaient à 3 ou 4,000 florins!). See Thoré 1858-1860, vol. 2, p. 170, n. 1. The ‘periwig age’ is a reference to the latter part of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century.

7. Cf. ‘them that are of a broken heart’, ‘the brokenhearted’ in Ps. 34:19 (in KJ Ps. 34:18) and Isa. 61:1.

c. Means: ‘uitgaven’ (expenses).

8. The art dealer Georges Petit; cf. also letter 358, n. 1.

d. Means: ‘kalm, rustig’ (calm, quiet).

e. Read: ‘dat wat’ (that which).

9. Van Gogh was fired by Goupil in April 1876.

10. Adolphe Goupil, founder of the firm of Goupil & Cie.

11. The source of this quotation has not been found.

f. Read: ‘Zodanige... dat het’ (Such... that it).

12. Theo had previously written this to Vincent: see letter 401.

13. Abel, Adam’s younger son and a shepherd, was killed by his brother, the farmer Cain. See Gen. 4:8.

14. Initially Van Gogh wrote: ‘I couldn’t be a wolf’ (‘ik zou niet een wolf kunnen zijn’).