1. Vincent’s reply to his mother’s letter is letter 788. Mrs van Gogh had addressed her letter ‘to the Hospital at Arles’, as she said in a letter she wrote to Theo and Jo on 29 April 1889: ‘I hope he received it and am greatly longing to hear something from him. I think of him a lot and hope so much that it may lead to his recovery’ (FR b2913).

2. Around 20 August 1889, Cor van Gogh left for South Africa, where he went to work for Cornucopia Gold Company in Germiston near Johannesburg. See M.H. van Meurs, ‘Cor van Gogh en de boerenoorlog’, Journal for Contemporary History. Joernaal vir Eietydse Geskiedenis 25-2 (December 2000), pp. 177-196.

3. Theo had written this in letter 762.

4. Vincent had placed this order in letter 779, ‘the order placed since’ is the one in letter 783.

5. Van Gogh had asked for Dicks' edition of the Complete works of Shakespeare in letter 782.

6. Shakespeare’s Richard ii (1596-1597) demonstrates how an incompetent king can bring about his own downfall. Richard shows little willingness to sacrifice himself for his kingdom, and too easily becomes involved with flatterers who clearly mean mischief. He consequently loses his power and finally the throne.

7. For Rembrandt’s Pilgrims at Emmaus , see letter 34, n. 5.

8. For Rembrandt’s Jewish bride , see letter 430, n. 10.

9. For The archangel Raphael (no longer attributed to Rembrandt), see letter 781, n. 4.

10. For Rembrandt’s Jan Six , see letter 47, n. 8.

11. For the portrait of Young man with a walking stick , which is no longer considered the work of Rembrandt, see letter 536, n. 9.

12. Van Gogh knew the copy after Rembrandt’s Saskia van Uylenburgh from his time in Antwerp; see letter 547, n. 20.

13. The complete translation of Shakespeare by François-Victor Hugo, the Oeuvres complètes, appeared between 1859 and 1866 in 17 volumes published by Pagnerre in Paris; Victor Hugo, the translator’s father, wrote the foreword.

14. Gauguin and Bernard described their work as ‘primitive’.

15. Ernest Renan’s play L’abbesse de Jouarre (1886) is about the abbess Julie-Constance de Saint-Florent, who was sentenced to death after the French Revolution. Mindful of her vows, she never surrendered to her love for the marquis d’Arcy, who was confined in the same prison and whose execution was to take place on the same days as hers. They finally give themselves to one another the night before their execution. She is pardoned at the last minute, however, and must live on, her conscience burdened by her sin. Van Gogh probably compared this book to Shakespeare because of its detailed descriptions of the abbess’s inner struggle and Renan’s beautiful use of language (cf. letter 782).

16. These ‘ten or so drawings’ (in letter 785 Van Gogh says ‘a dozen’) were the following ten drawings made after paintings: Trees with ivy in the garden of the asylum (F 1522 / JH 1695 ) after Trees with ivy in the garden of the asylum (F 609 / JH 1693 ), Wheatfield and cypresses (F 1538 / JH 1757 ) after Wheatfield and cypresses (F 717 / JH 1756 ), Wheatfield after a storm (F 1547 / JH 1724 ) after Wheatfield after a storm (F 611 / JH 1723 ), Starry night (F 1540 / JH 1732 ) after Starry night (F 612 / JH 1731 ), Cypresses (F 1524 / JH 1749 ) after the first state of Cypresses (F 620 / JH 1748 ), Olive trees with the Alpilles in the background (F 1544 / JH 1741 ) after Olive trees with the Alpilles in the background (F 712 / JH 1740 ), Cypresses (F 1525 / JH 1747 ) after Cypresses (F 613 / JH 1746 ), Wheatfield (F 1548 / JH 1726 ) after Wheatfield (F 719 / JH 1725 ), Reaper (F 1546 / JH 1754 ) after Reaper (F 617 / JH 1753 ) and Wild vegetation (F 1542 / JH 1742 ) after the underlying composition of Ravine (F 662 / JH 1804 ). Fields with poppies (F 1494 / JH 1752 ) was probably part of the consignment, although this was not a drawing after the painting of the same name (F 581 / JH 1751 ), but a preliminary study. See cat. Amsterdam 2007, pp. 231-244, and Chavannes and Van Tilborgh 2007.

17. Reaper (F 617 / JH 1753 ). The drawing made after it is Reaper (F 1546 / JH 1754 ).

18. Wheatfield after a storm (F 611 / JH 1723 ). The drawing made after it is Wheatfield after a storm (F 1547 / JH 1724 ).

19. Van Gogh wrote in letter 592 that he had said this to Reid.

20. This source has not been traced.

21. Cypresses (F 620 / JH 1748 ).

22. Reaper (F 617 / JH 1753 ).

a. Read: ‘procédé’.

23. Regarding the disagreement with Reid, which began in the spring of 1888, see letter 578, n. 7.

24. Shortly after this, Van Gogh collected six canvases from Arles and sent them to Theo: Orchard in blossom with a view of Arles (F 516 / JH 1685 ), Avenue of chestnut trees in blossom (F 517 / JH 1689 ), La Crau with peach trees in blossom (F 514 / JH 1681 ), Field with flowers under a stormy sky (F 575 / JH 1422 ), Road with pollard willows (F 520 / JH 1690 ) and Orchard in blossom with a view of Arles (F 515 / JH 1683 ). See letter 789.

25. Weeping tree on a lawn (F 1468 / JH 1498 ).

26. The courtyard of the hospital (F 1467 / JH 1688 ).

27. ‘More coloured’ probably refers to the black-and-white gradations in the drawing. Recent findings do not indicate the presence of coloured ink. Regarding the smooth paper, see cat. Amsterdam 2007, p. 180.

28. ‘The Sower of the other year’ probably refers to the ambitious canvas Sower with setting sun (F 450 / JH 1627 ) which Van Gogh had painted in November 1888. In May 1889 he sent it to Theo, who thought it very beautiful (see letter 774). Cf. also Dorn 1990, p. 367.

29. For ‘learning to suffer without complaining’ (savoir souffrir sans se plaindre), see letter 211, n. 18.