1. In letter 593 Vincent had asked Theo the price of absorbent canvas at Tasset’s.
2. This refers to the consignment of paint from Tasset & Lhote, for which Van Gogh had asked in letter 593 and acknowledged receipt in letter 595.
3. Van Gogh made a repetition of The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 397 / JH 1368 [2571]), namely The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 571 / JH 1392 [2589]), and of Pink peach trees (‘Souvenir de Mauve’) (F 394 / JH 1379 [2577]), that is The pink peach tree (F 404 / JH 1391 [2588]). The repetitions were meant for Theo, because Vincent wanted to give F 397 / JH 1368 [2571] to Tersteeg and F 394 / JH 1379 [2577] to Jet Mauve.
[2571] [2589] [2577] [2588] [2571] [2577]
4. This comment is on the verso of the letter sketch with the three sketched orchards; ‘four’ must be a mistake.
5. The three orchards reproduced in the letter sketch Three orchards (F - / JH 1393) are The pink orchard (F 555 / JH 1380 [2578]), Pink peach trees (F 404 / JH 1391 [2588]) – Pink peach trees (‘Souvenir de Mauve’) (F 394 / JH 1379 [2577]) seems unlikely because Van Gogh wanted to give it away – and The white orchard (F 403 / JH 1378 [2576]). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1990, p. 104.
[2578] [2588] [2577] [2576]
6. Small pear tree in blossom (F 405 / JH 1394 [2590]), after which Van Gogh made the sketch of the same name F - / JH 1395 later in the letter.
[2590]
7. The flanking horizontal works are Orchard with apricot trees in blossom (F 553 / JH 1387 [2585]) and Orchard with apricot trees in blossom (F 556 / JH 1383 [2581]). See exhib. cat. New York 1984, p. 47 and exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1990, p. 112.
[2585] [2581]
8. It emerges from the rest of the letter that these three works were supposed to represent a large orchard with cypress trees (ll. 60-61). At any rate they included Orchard bordered by cypresses (F 513 / JH 1389 [2587]) and Orchard with peach trees in blossom (F 551 / JH 1396 [2591]). The third work was probably Orchard (F 552 / JH 1381 [2579]), or the large study of a cherry tree which Van Gogh reported a week later he had ‘worked to death’ (letter 600). He evidently abandoned the notion of a triptych, since later he regarded F 513 / JH 1389 and F 551 / JH 1396 as a pair in their own right (see letters 608 and 615).
Cf. for the description ‘the state of embryos or foetuses’ in conjunction with the ‘initial idea’ a few lines later in the letter, the following note made by Eugène Delacroix in his Journal of 23 April 1854: ‘The first idea, the sketch, which is in some ways the egg or embryo of the idea, is usually far from complete; it contains everything if you like, but all this has to be brought out’ (L’Idée première, le croquis, qui est en quelque sorte l’oeuf ou l’embryon de l’idée, est loin ordinairement d’être complet; il contient tout si l’on veut, mais il faut dégager ce tout). See Delacroix 1996, p. 414.
[2587] [2591] [2579]
9. The ‘no. 12 canvases’ of which Little blossoming pear tree was the central one both measure 55 x 65 cm and strictly speaking are therefore ‘figure 15’ canvases. Pink peach trees was flanked by two no. 25 canvases (65.5 x 80.5 cm and 60 x 80 cm respectively).
10. The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 571 / JH 1392 [2589]); see for Van Gogh’s misnomer for the bridge: letter 595, n. 4.
[2589]
11. The study is The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 397 / JH 1368 [2571]).
[2571]
12. Guillaumin’s pastel Farmhouses at Janville (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 143 [143]. We do not know which method of fixing Van Gogh meant.
[143]
13. These sonnets are not known. See for Van Gogh’s reaction to them to Bernard: letter 599. We can infer from this postscript that Van Gogh must have received another letter from Bernard shortly after he had written letter 596 to him.
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