1. Vincent is replying here to an unknown letter from Willemien, in which she must have expressed her disappointment that he did not write often (cf. letter 574). It is also clear from Theo’s letter to her that Vincent did not write much: ‘Vincent started writing to you ten times and I have read more letters to you than you have received from him, but sometimes one begins rattling away if one has finally got started, and then it is better to start afresh. But his letters are always interesting, which is why it’s a pity that he doesn’t write more’ (FR b914). See for the complete letter: Documentation, 24 and 26 February 1888.

2. See for Voltaire’s Candide: letter 568, n. 3. Van Gogh is not quoting literally here; it may be that he is paraphrasing the theme of the book in Panglossian terms, but it is more likely that he is quoting from Willemien’s last letter: she must have read the book because of what Vincent said about it in his previous letter to her (letter 574).

3. Anton Mauve, Van Gogh’s first teacher, had suddenly died on 5 February 1888 (Laren, Civil registration). He was 49 years old.

4. This metaphor may derive from Frederik van Eeden’s De kleine Johannes (1887), which Van Gogh undoubtedly chose in order to appeal to Willemien’s frame of reference. (Van Gogh was to refer to the book again later; see letters 626 and 740). De kleine Johannes is a Bildungsroman disguised as a fairy tale, in which Johannes tries to find ‘wisdom’ with the help of various allegorical fairy-tale figures. The contrast between idealized nature and man is the connecting thread throughout the book.