1. This consignment can be largely reconstructed. Van Gogh wrote in letter 765 that the following works from the consignment should be put on stretching frames: The night café (F 463 / JH 1575

), The green vineyard (F 475 / JH 1595

), The red vineyard (F 495 / JH 1626

), The bedroom (F 482 / JH 1608

), Ploughed fields (‘The furrows’) (F 574 / JH 1586

), Ploughed field with a tree-trunk (‘The furrows’) (F 573 / JH 1618

), Eugène Boch (‘The poet’) (F 462 / JH 1574

), The Alyscamps (‘Leaf-fall’) (F 486 / JH 1620

), The Alyscamps (‘Leaf-fall’) (F 487 / JH 1621

), ‘the poet’s garden’, The public garden with a couple strolling (‘The poet’s garden’) (F 479 / JH 1601

), Sunflowers in a vase (F 455 / JH 1668

), Sunflowers in a vase (F 457 / JH 1666

), ‘Scabious &c’ and ‘asters and marigolds’ (possibly Zinnias in a majolica jug (F 592 / JH 1568

); see letter 765, n. 34). In the present letter Van Gogh mentions a ‘garden that’s in the walnut frame’ (l. 52), so that painting, The public garden (‘The poet’s garden’) (F 468 / JH 1578

) (see n. 7 below) was also in the consignment (cf. also letter 777).

The consignment contained four versions of Augustine Roulin (‘La berceuse’), namely F 504 / JH 1655

, F 506 / JH 1670

, F 507 / JH 1672

and F 508 / JH 1671

, as well as Joseph Roulin (F 436 / JH 1675

), Sower with setting sun (F 450 / JH 1627

), Marcelle Roulin (F 441 / JH 1641

), Starry night over the Rhône (F 474 / JH 1592

) and Van Gogh’s chair (F 498 / JH 1635

). See letter 774. It is likely that Gauguin’s chair (F 499 / JH 1636

) was sent together with its pendant F 498 (cf. letter 736). In addition to the two previously mentioned canvases with sunflowers, the consignment must also have contained F 456 / JH 1561

, F 454 / JH 1562

, F 453 / JH 1559

, F 459 / JH 1560

and F 458 / JH 1667

. See letter 774, n. 7. Marie Ginoux (‘The Arlésienne’) (F 489 / JH 1625

) was also in the batch; see letter 768, n. 26.

It may be deduced from letter 796, written by Roulin, that Theo had received the portraits of all the members of the family, so Armand Roulin (F 493 / JH 1643

) and Camille Roulin (F 538 / JH 1645

), both of which have Theo van Gogh as their provenance, were probably also in the consignment. A comparison of Young man with a cap (F 536 / JH 1648) with the two portraits F 492 / JH 1642

and F 493 / JH 1643

suggests that this, too, is a portrait of Armand Roulin. Its provenance, anyway, is from Theo, so it would have been part of this consignment (see Account book 2002, p. 177).

It emerges from letter 827 that the watercolour Breton women in the meadow (after Emile Bernard) (F 1422 / JH 1654

) was also at Theo’s; it must have been in this last consignment from Arles.

2. Regarding these studies left behind by Gauguin, see letter 736, n. 12. Gauguin had asked Van Gogh in letter 734 to send his fencing masks and gloves.

4. Read: ‘l’économe’ (bursar). Marius Huard fulfilled this function at the hospital in Arles (L’indicateur marseillais 1889).

5. Vincent is referring to Willemien and Elisabeth; Anna, the eldest of the three sisters, was already married.

6. Avenue of chestnut trees in blossom (F 517 / JH 1689

7. This painting of the park was probably The public garden (‘The poet’s garden’) (F 468 / JH 1578

). According to Dorn it was Entrance to the public garden (F 566 / JH 1585

). See Dorn 1990, pp. 189, 438. Unlike that work, however, we know that F 468 definitely had a walnut frame (see letter 699; cf. also letter 673, n. 16). It is also more likely that Van Gogh, who was very keen on contrasts when choosing pendants, selected a painting of the ‘poet’s garden’ to pair with F 517

, and not F 566, which shows the same area of the park as in F 517 in an almost identical composition.

a. Read: ‘distrait’.

8. Van Gogh links these two artists to the Foreign Legion, because both had painted military scenes. Edouard Detaille made military history paintings; the caricaturist Caran d’Ache (the pseudonym of Emmanuel Poiré) had become known in 1886 for his designs for the shadow play ‘L’épopée’ (Epic) about the Napoleonic campaigns for the Cabaret du Chat Noir in Montmartre.

9. Van Gogh thought at first that the cost of bed and board in the asylum was 80 francs a month (letter 760); in the meantime he had learned from Salles that the minimum would be 100 francs (letter 765). Peyron had also written to Theo about this on 29 April 1889. See Hulsker 1993-2, p. 177. When Vincent moved into the asylum, Theo began to make monthly notes in his account book of these expenses; see Account book 2002, pp. 44-45.

10. Van Gogh had stored his furniture in the Café de la Gare owned by Joseph Ginoux; see letter 760, n. 4. He had lodged there from 7 May to 17 September 1888.

11. An allusion to the neighbours’ objections to Van Gogh’s abnormal behaviour, which had led to the petition complaining about him (letter 750).