1. There are two versions of Jean Léon Gérôme’s The prisoner: one dating from 1861 (Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts) and one from 1863 (private collection). See Ackerman 1986, pp. 210-211, cat. nos. 134-135. Goupil had included a photograph in the series L’Oeuvre de J.-L. Gérôme, Goupil s.a. (no. 567), while the engraving The prisoner appeared in The Illustrated London News 56 (14 December 1872), between pp. 558-559. Ill. 132 [132]. It is not possible to say for certain which version Van Gogh knew.
[132]
2. An allusion to Ps. 69:18 (in KJ Ps. 69:17), where the word is ‘servant’ (‘knecht’) not ‘neighbour’ (‘naaste’). Van Gogh probably changed the wording here deliberately, to make it more specifically relevant to their situation.
3. Deo volente (God willing).
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