1. Vincent had twice asked his brother to send him a special edition of L’Illustration because it contained Renouard’s La crise industrielle à Lyon – Sans travail (letters 480 and 482).

2. Theo sent L’Illustration 83 (3 May 1884), no. 2149, because this is the one that featured all the reproductions referred to hereafter. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Le bois sacré, cher aux arts et aux muses (The sacred grove, dear to the arts and the muses), engraved by Meisenbach, is on p. 289. Ill. 323 .

3. Henri Joseph Harpignies, Lever de lune; Étang de Grand-Rue (Yonne) (Moonrise; The pond at Grand-Rue (Yonne)) is on p. 297 (as no. 8 of a page ‘Choix de paysages’ (Selection of landscapes). Ill. 921 .

4. Armorica (Armorica) and Le bain (The bath) by François Feyen-Perrin, engraved by Meisenbach, are on p. 289. Ill. 835 and Ill. 836 .

5. Emile Lévy, Petite fille en robe japonaise (Girl in a Japanese robe), engraved by Meisenbach, is on p. 292. Ill. 1051 .

6. Pierre Marie Beyle, Brûleuses de Varech (Women burning seaweed), engraved by Meisenbach, is on p. 305. Ill. 581 .

7. Louis Joseph Raphaël Collin, L’été (Summer), engraved by Meisenbach, is on p. 301. Ill. 698 .

8. See for the studies of heads that Van Gogh made in this period: cat. Amsterdam 1997, pp. 124-133, cat. nos. 108-118.

9. See for Jules Breton, The spring : letter 464, n. 9.

10. We know of two paintings of this subject dating from around this time: The parsonage garden in the snow (F 194 / JH 603 and F 67 / JH 604 ).

11. Van Gogh had quoted this remark by Israëls before – in letter 361.