1. Theo turned 24 on 1 May 1881.

2. During the Easter holidays, when both Vincent and Theo were in Etten (cf. letter 165), the family must have decided that Vincent should settle in Etten. In the intervening two weeks he had been in Brussels.

3. For the prints after Millet which Van Gogh copied, see letter 156, nn. 1,3 and 5. The finished version after The sower is presumably Sower (after Millet) (F 830 / JH 1 ). See Heenk 1995, pp. 29-30, and cat. Amsterdam 1996, pp. 79-82, cat. no. 16.

4. This exhibition was the 21st annual exhibition of the Société Royale Belge des Aquarellistes (Belgian Royal Society of Watercolourists), which was held in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. See exhib. cat. Brussels 1881.

5. The catalogue lists the following watercolours by Anton Mauve: Le chariot à bois (The wood-cart), Petit chariot à bois (Small wood-cart), Le chargement du bois (Loading wood ) and Le jardinier (The gardener) (cat. nos. 126-129). The titles explain why Van Gogh called them ‘Woodcutters’.

6. The catalogue mentions the watercolour Dans les dunes (In the dunes) by Jacob Maris (cat. no. 121). This perhaps refers to Young couple in the dunes (Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland) or to Dune landscape (Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet). Cf. exhib. cat. Haarlem 2003, pp. 126, 135, cat. nos. 31, 40.

7. Van Gogh must be referring to the landscape painter Adriaen van de Velde, by whom paintings were to be seen in both Amsterdam and London. The comparison of Maris’s dunes with those of Van de Velde might have been prompted by Van Gogh’s acquaintance with (reproductions of) The beach at Scheveningen, 1658 (Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen) and the version of this from 1660 in the Royal Collection. Maris’s work was often linked to that of Ruisdael. Cf. exhib. cat. Haarlem 2003.

8. The catalogue lists the following watercolours by J.H. Weissenbruch: Environs de Rotterdam (Environs of Rotterdam), Plage (Beach), Dans le jardin fruitier (In the orchard), Dans le polder (In the polder) and Environs de Schiedam, (Environs of Schiedam) (cat. nos. 257-261).

9. The catalogue lists only four watercolours by W. Roelofs: Le chemin du village (The village lane), Ferme au bord de l’eau (Farm at the waterside), Ferme sous des arbres (Farm beneath the trees) and Les pies (Magpies) (cat. nos. 170-173).

10. The catalogue lists the following watercolours by Constant Gabriël: Matin (Morning), Dans les tourbières (In the peat) and Environs de Schiedam (Environs of Schiedam) (cat. nos. 76-78).

11. The catalogue lists two watercolours by Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen: Paysage d’automne (Autumnal landscape) and Scheveningue (Scheveningen) (cat. nos. 235-236). It is less likely that Van Gogh is referring to L’automne (Autumn) and Roses (Roses) (cat. nos. 233-234) by Gerardina Jacoba van de Sande Bakhuyzen, a sister of Julius and less known.

12. The catalogue lists two watercolours by Hendrik Valkenburg: Paysage de Twent (Twente landscape) and Femme lisant (Woman reading) (cat. nos. 220-221).

13. The catalogue mentions the watercolour La grand’ mère; intérieur dans le Gooiland (au nord d’Utrecht) (The grandmother; interior in the Gooi (to the north of Utrecht)) by Hendrik Albert van Trigt (cat. no. 245).

14. The catalogue lists the following watercolours by Pieter Stortenbeker: Un verger (An orchard), Saules (Willows), Paysage (Landscape), Un verger (An orchard) and Pâturage en Hollande (Pasture in Holland) (cat. nos. 198-202).

15. The catalogue lists the following watercolours by Johannes Gijsbert Vogel: Paysage hollandais (Dutch landscape), Paysage boisé; après-midi (Wooded landscape; afternoon), Paysage aux environs de Sliedrecht (Hollande) (Landscape near Sliedrecht (Holland)), Scheveningue; vue prise du côté de Zorgvliet (Scheveningen; view near Zorgvliet) and Paysage (Landscape) (cat. nos. 252-256).

16. Artists from Belgium, Italy, Germany, England, France, Austria and Switzerland participated in the exhibition.

17. The catalogue mentions the watercolour Arrivée tardive; crépuscule (Late arrival; dusk) by Hendrik Willem Mesdag (cat. no. 134). This is the watercolour Fishing boat and horseman, which measures 58 x 47 cm (private collection). Ill. 1140 . See Poort 1989-1995, Supplement, p. 122.

18. The catalogue lists the following watercolours by François Pieter ter Meulen: Moutons quittant la bergerie (Sheep leaving the fold) and Vers le soir (Towards evening) (cat. nos. 205-206).

19. Until 1860 Ter Meulen received painting lessons from Hendrikus van de Sande Bakhuyzen and after 1871 from his son Julius. While working in The Hague, Van Gogh must have seen Ter Meulen in Van de Sande Bakhuyzen’s studio, which was in an outbuilding behind his house at Nieuwe Haven 240. See exhib. cat. The Hague 1997 and Van der Lubbe 1999.

20. This probably refers to the watercolour Paysan brabançon (Brabant peasant) (cat. no. 136) by Constantin Meunier.

a. Van Gogh probably meant to write ‘Valet’ (servant, farmhand, stable boy) and not ‘varlet’.

21. The last-mentioned is Meunier’s watercolour Gamin d’usine (Factory boy), cat. no. 138. Since the other titles in the catalogue are A la foire (At the fair), Rêverie (Reverie) and Dans les dunes (In the dunes) (cat. nos. 135, 137 and 139), there is a good chance that Reverie depicts a stoker (‘chauffeur’).

22. The catalogue mentions the series of watercolours Quatre cadres avec huit dessins. La vie du fameux pirate Claus Stortenbeker (Four pictures with eight drawings. The life of the famous pirate Claus Stortenbeker) by Charles Rochussen (cat. nos. 166-169). Cf. Franken and Obreen 1894, pp. 132-133, cat. nos. 890-897.

23. Anthon van Rappard finally left on 10 May. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, p. 11.

24. Starting in October 1879, Van Rappard spent six months in Paris, where he attended the academic lessons given in the studio of Jean Léon Gérôme. This period in Paris ended in disappointment. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1974, pp. 15-16.