1. See for this preface to Chérie: letter 550, nn. 12 and 13.

2. One of the recent major strikes was the Decazeville strike which had taken place in January.

3. The working class, see letter 539, n. 4.

a. Means: ‘nauwelijks iets gegeten heeft’ (has eaten virtually nothing).

4. Van Gogh is referring to Gustave Geffroy’s La vie de Corot, in which he writes ‘War is declared. Corot refuses to move away from Paris and even expresses the wish to go to the ramparts and buys himself several guns. Physical fatigue stops him. So he works and makes money from anything to help bring relief from the misery of the siege. He goes round the ambulances and hospitals, emptying his hands and his pockets.’ (Survient la déclaration de guerre. Corot refuse de s’éloigner de Paris, et même il manifeste le désir d’aller aux remparts et s’achète plusieurs fusils. La fatigue physique l’arrête. Il travaille alors et fait argent de tout pour venir en aide aux misères du siège. Il parcourt les ambulances, les hôpitaux, vide ses mains et ses poches.) Printed in Corot 1946, p. 68. In Corot. Souvenirs intimes Dumesnil described how the painter contributed financially to help the wounded in Paris during the Franco-Prussan War (see Dumesnil 1875, p. 88).