1. A reference to what Van Gogh says in ll. 88-91 in letter 645. However, that was not the end of the letter – although it was of the sheet, which was not full.

2. Loti writes in Madame Chrysanthème: ‘Mousmé is a word meaning a young girl or a very young woman. It is one of the prettiest words in the Japanese language; it seems to reflect both moue (meaning a young girl’s funny and pretty pout) and frimousse (meaning a young girl’s pert and sweet little face). I will use it often, not knowing any word in French that comes close to expressing the meaning’ (Mousmé est un mot qui signifie jeune fille ou très jeune femme. C’est un des plus jolis de la langue nipponne; il semble qu’il y ait, dans ce mot, de la moue (de la petite moue gentille et drôle comme elles en font) et surtout de la frimousse (de la frimousse chiffonnée comme est la leur). Je l’emploierai souvent, n’en connaissant aucun en français qui le vaille) (see Loti 1990, pp. 90-91, chapter 11).

3. Mousmé (F 431 / JH 1519 ).

4. Van Gogh painted two portraits of the Zouave: Zouave (F 423 / JH 1486 ) and Seated Zouave (F 424 / JH 1488 ).

5. The letter from Russell is 647. For Russell’s move, see letter 623, n. 16.

6. Russell had painted Vincent van Gogh in Paris in 1886 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 1310 . It may have been exchanged for Van Gogh’s Shoes (F 332 / JH 1234). See exhib. cat. Sydney 2001, pp. 51, 130 (n. 23).

7. See for Gauguin’s Negresses talking or Conversation (Tropics) : letter 627, n. 6.

8. See for Gauguin’s Among the mangoes : letter 612, n. 1.

9. Van Gogh must mean that Russell, who had previously bought work from Guillaumin (see letter 602), should buy a figure painting by him.

10. See letter 623, n. 17, for Rodin’s Bust of Mrs Russell . This must be the preliminary study in wax; see letter 647, n. 4.

11. Gustave Geffroy, ‘Dix tableaux de Claude Monet’, La Justice 9 (17 June 1888), no. 3077, pp. 1-2.

12. For these sketches by Bernard see letter 649, n. 1.

13. Bernard’s drawing Brothel scene, 1888 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 2322 , which Vincent had sent on to Theo with letter 630.

14. Van Gogh probably counted Lubricity , which he did not think very successful, among these drawings ‘in the style of Redon’ (see letter 651).

15. See for Bernard’s A woman washing herself : letter 649, n. 5.

16. See for Bernard’s Lane in Brittany with figures : letter 649, n. 2.

17. Boch made Impressionist paintings from 1885 until the end of 1888. During this period he often stayed in Moret-sur-Loing, where Sisley was also working. See exhib. cat. Saarbrücken 1971, pp. 47, 55. There are some known landscapes by Boch from his time in Fontvieille: Flower garden in Fontvieille and Houses in Fontvieille (both private collection). See exhib. cat. La Louvière 1958. Olive trees, c. 1888-1889, and Fruit trees in blossom, 1885-1890 (both private collection) were probably also painted during his stay in Provence. See exhib. cat. Pontoise 1994, pp. 81 (ill.), 101.

18. Van Gogh had once described this artist, who was in fact Belgian, as ‘the incarnation of mealy-mouthed pedantry’ (letters 175 and 176).

19. These works by Macknight have not been identified. Cf. letter 603, n. 2.

20. Macknight and Boch were staying at Café de l’Alcazar on the Cours in Fontvieille. The café was run by Jean Peyrol and his wife Emilie Peyrol-Girard (Mairie de Fontvieille; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, letters from Macknight to Boch 1888-1889).

21. Little is known about Macknight’s financial circumstances. From 1878 he had worked for some years for the Taber Art Compagny in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which made reproductions. A friend paid for Macknight’s trip to Europe in 1883. See Awash in Color: Homer, Sargent, and the Great American Watercolor. Sue Welsh Reed and Carol Troyen. Exhib. cat. Boston (Museum of Fine Arts). Boston 1993, p. 138.

22. Probably an ironic reference to Zola’s La terre (1887). See also letter 657, n. 18.

23. See letter 11, n. 8, for Emile Wauters, The painter Hugo van der Goes in the red cloister , a portrait of the mentally ill fifteenth-century artist.

24. Theo must have responded to Vincent’s remark that when life becomes too much for him, he drinks more to distract himself (letter 645, ll. 147-148).

25. In 1883 the physician Ernst Schweninger advised Bismarck, whose health was poor from 1881 onwards, to eat and drink significantly less. Contrary to what Van Gogh asserts, Bismarck did benefit from the regimen. See Ernst Engelberg, Bismarck. Das Reich in der Mitte Europas. Berlin 1990 pp. 360-364, 593-595.