1. Mr van Gogh’s visit had probably taken place a short while before.

2. Hans Olaf Heyerdahl worked in Paris. Theo knew this painter through Goupil. See exhib. cat. Åmot 1981, and Trond E. Aslaksby, ‘Hans Heyerdahl i Paris’, Kunst og kommentar. Ed. Svein Olav Hoff. Asker 1992, pp. 48-67.

3. The ‘draughtsman’ by the name of Marks to whom Van Gogh refers cannot be identified with certainty, but Henry Stacy Marks, a draughtsman on wood and etcher and painter of animals seems the most likely candidate. His work appeared in The Illustrated London News (1876-1879) and The Graphic; and he illustrated Dickens’s Child’s history of England, which Van Gogh knew. The Dalziel Brothers made engravings after his designs. See Engen 1985, pp. 174-175.

4. George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier.

5. Charles Degroux, The conscript’s departure, c. 1869-1870 (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts). Ill. 138 . Van Gogh refers to this work again in letter 260.

6. Charles Degroux, The drunkard (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts). Ill. 139 . This watercolour ‘in portrait format’ measures 42.1 x 26.1 cm.

7. Heist is some 8 km north of Blankenberge on the north-west coast of Belgium, as clarified by Van Gogh further on in the letter: ‘near Blankenberge, so [it is] on the sea’.

8. Kalmthout is about 18 km north of Antwerp, near the Dutch border.

9. Schaarbeek is north-east of Brussels.

10. Haren is about 7 km from Brussels, in the direction of Antwerp.

11. Groenendaal is south-east of Brussels, in the Soignes Forest.

12. Veloutine is cotton or silk velvet.

13. For this dictum, falsely attributed to Palissy, see letter 158, n. 20.

14. Uncle Cor and Uncle Vincent van Gogh.

15. The ‘matter’ in question is not known, though Van Gogh is probably referring to his discussion with Uncle Cor about Gérôme’s Phrynée , about which he wrote in letter 139.

a. Conjunction referring back to ‘ongenegen’ (‘unwilling’).

b. Illustrated magazine.

16. Regarding Vincent’s supposed ‘idling’, see letter 154.

17. Van Gogh thanked Tersteeg for sending Bargue’s Exercices au fusain and Cours de dessin in late August or early September 1880 (see letter 157).

18. A lay figure (with movable limbs) used in drawing.

c. Derived from the French ‘composer’.

19. Wouterus Verschuur, who mainly painted horses, had taught Anton Mauve.

20. Madiol did not display any work at the 1881 Salon; the painting mentioned has not been traced.

21. Meaning: ‘He found a little old woman to pose for him and the painting was superb in its drawing and especially colour’.

22. ‘There... anyhow’ was written by Vincent in English. Cf. the title of Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit, book 2, chapter 5: ‘Something wrong somewhere’.

d. ‘notwithstanding’ is written in English.

23. A saying; cf. letter 527.

e. ‘Where ... way’ is written in English.

24. For Millet’s series The labours of the fields , see letter 156, n. 1.

f. Variant of ‘bedissel’.

25. 1 Tim. 5:18 and 1 Cor. 9:9.

26. There are no known examples of work by Van Rappard made during the time he spent at the Brussels Academy (autumn 1880 to May 1881). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, pp. 68-69.

27. ‘Voila... encore’ must refer to the above-mentioned Van Rappard.

28. One surviving example is a pen drawing made slightly earlier, Valley of Jehoshaphat (Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen). Ill. 1900 . The drawing is dated 17 March 1881. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, p. 69, cat. no. 52.

29. These three scratches are not known.