1. Van Gogh had started painting still lifes in Eindhoven with Kerssemakers and others in November 1884: see letter 469.

2. This still life by Kerssemakers is not known. Kerssemakers later recalled his dealings with Van Gogh: ‘He used to come to Eindhoven on Sunday mornings, and if he didn’t find me at home he would go to the Harmonie where we had a crowded drinking table between 12 and 2. When the company saw him come in with his hairy Ulster and rough cap, there was stifled laughter, and they said to me: off you go, Toon, there’s your friend. Then of course I abandoned the company and went to sit with him, or we went to my house together.’ Letter from Anton Kerssemakers to Albert Plasschaert, Eindhoven, 27 August 1912 (FR b3038).

a. Read: ‘fond’ (ground).

3. After reading Blanc’s Les artistes de mon temps Van Gogh sought to conquer the rendering of chiaroscuro and turned to such deep colours as dark blue, dark green and dark brown. See cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 80.

4. Wed. J.L. Baijens & Zonen, a shop selling artists’ supplies, glass, pewter ware, floor covering etc., at number 302 (now 18) Rechtestraat, district C, in Eindhoven.