1. Van Gogh is referring to the reproduction of a farmer facing the title page in the book H. Hollidee, Etsen naar het leven. Met een inleidend woord door A.C. Loffelt en een teekening van Israëls. Leiden 1881 (Etchings from life. With an introduction by A.C. Loffelt and a drawing by Israëls). Ill. 2136 . H. Hollidee is the pseudonym of Elard Albert Rovers. The collection contains seven novellas in which Rovers describes the North Brabant village life of his childhood. This slim volume evidently circulated, since Andries Bonger wrote to his parents not long afterwards: ‘Have you ever seen a little book: Etsen naar het leven, by H. Hollidee? If not, I can really recommend that you read them; they are very good’ (FR b1815, 2 June 1885).

2. The Musée Moderne was in the Palais Ducal. It had around 180 paintings by modern Belgian artists and by several foreigners. See Baedeker 1885, pp. 31-33. (Van Gogh added the word ‘modern’ (‘moderne’) later).