1. Van Gogh was in The Hague from Tuesday, 23 to Thursday, 25 August, after which he went to Dordrecht (see ll. 97 ff.).

2. Mr and Mrs van Gogh spent a week at Uncle Vincent van Gogh’s (see Mrs van Gogh’s letter on the same sheet; Documentation, 28 August 1881).

3. The painter Théophile Emile Achille de Bock worked at Zuid-Binnensingel 128 in The Hague. From 1877 to 1881 he rented this house (‘Huize Rozenburg’) together with Tony Offermans and Jozef Neuhuys. In 1878 Willem Maris lived there as well (GAH). Theo was probably instrumental in putting Vincent in touch with De Bock. See also a subsequent passage in the letter (ll. 29-48) and letter 360.

4. Mauve had a studio in the garden of his former house on the Zuid-Oost-Buitensingel (Rooses 1899-1900).

5. It is not known which of De Bock’s works this refers to.

6. Millet’s biographer, Sensier, made the following remark: ‘Millet always remained true to the age-old tradition of sacrificing the landscape to the figure’. Sensier 1881, p. 176.

7. This copy by De Bock after Corot is not known.

8. Fake Corots began to appear on the art market with increasing frequency from the 1870s onwards; see Vincent Pomarède, ‘Corot forgeries: Is the artist responsible?’, in exhib. cat. Paris 1996, pp. 383-396.

9. On 1 August 1881 the ‘Panorama Mesdag’ opened in Zeestraat in The Hague. This panoramic view of the coast and the dunes near the fishing village of Scheveningen was designed by H.W. Mesdag and painted by him and several other artists in the space of four months. De Bock worked on it from March to August 1881. With its length of nearly 120 meters and its height of over 14 meters, Panorama Mesdag is the biggest painting of the Netherlands. See Magisch panorama. Panorama Mesdag, een belevenis in ruimte en tijd. Ed. Yvonne van Eekelen. Zwolle and The Hague 1996, and De Bock 1991, p. 19.

10. E.J.T. Thoré (under the pseudonym W. Bürger) had written in Musées de la Hollande: ‘George Sand wrote: “Masterpieces have defects.” The Anatomy lesson has none. But perhaps to have none is itself a defect. As a painting, it is an accomplished work in its genre. Senza errore.’ (George Sand a écrit: “Les chefs-d’oeuvres ont des défauts.” La leçon d’anatomie n’en a pas. Mais peut-être est-ce un défaut que de n’en point avoir. Comme peinture, c’est une oeuvre accomplie en son genre. Senza errore.) Thoré 1858-1860, vol. 1, p. 200. The reference is to Rembrandt’s Anatomy lesson of Nicolaas Tulp, 1632 (The Hague, Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis). Ill. 1901 .

11. In August and September 1881 the ‘Zesde tentoonstelling van teekeningen van de Hollandsche Teeken-Maatschappij’ (Sixth exhibition of drawings by the Dutch Drawing Society) was held in the Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague. See exhib. cat. The Hague 1881-2. The catalogue lists the following works by Hendrik Willem Mesdag: Het Scheur (The Scheur), Binnenkomende pinken (Pinks coming in) and Schemering (Dusk) (p. 11, cat. nos. 74-76).

12. Jozef Israëls, The sewing school at Katwijk (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 200 . This was exhibited as cat. no. 48, De naaischool te Katwijk (p. 10).

13. Four works by Anton Mauve were exhibited at the ‘Zesde tentoonstelling’: Schapen in het duin (Sheep in the dunes), Onder het groen( Beneath the trees), Herder (Shepherd), and Akkerbouw (Working the land) (p. 11, cat. nos. 63-64, 66). Van Gogh’s mention of ‘a plough’ refers to Working the land. This is the watercolour Ploughing (Haarlem, Teylers Museum). Ill. 240 . The second work mentioned is Sheep in the dunes, but Mauve made too many drawings of this subject for this one to be identifiable. The resting labourer most probably refers to Beneath the trees.

14. Four drawings by David Adolph Constant Artz were on display (and not three, as Van Gogh seems to recall, though perhaps he counted the heads as one drawing): Eetzaal in het Oude mannen- en vrouwenhuis te Katwijk (Dining hall in the Old Men’s and Women’s House in Katwijk), Op het duin (In the dunes), Gijsbert (Gijsbert) and Arentje (Arentje) (p. 1, cat. nos. 3-6). The first is the ‘scene in an institution’ Van Gogh describes; the last two are the ‘studies of heads’. The subject of the first drawing corresponds to the photogravure of Artz’s L’hospice des vieillards à Katwyk (Hollande) (Old people’s home at Katwijk (Holland)) of 1882. See letter 295, n. 8.

15. Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch was represented by Een warme dag (A warm day), Aan de Kaag (On the Kaag) and Bij het dorp (Near the village) (p. 12, cat. nos. 121-123).

16. Four drawings by Fredericus Jacobus van Rossum du Chattel were on display: Aan de Vecht (On the Vecht), Een zomerdag (A summer’s day), Avondstond (The evening hour) and Aan de vaart bij Abcoude (On the canal near Abcoude) (p. 9, cat. nos. 34-37).

17. Both Johannes Albert and his brother Jozef Neuhuys were represented at the exhibition. Considering what follows and the subjects depicted, Van Gogh is most likely referring to Jozef, by whom there were three drawings: Een hoekje in het Gooi (A corner of the Gooi), Op de heide (On the heath) and Tusschen het koren (In the cornfield) (p. 12, cat. nos. 87-89).

18. Johannes Albert Neuhuys had three drawings on display: Schuilhoekje (Hideaway), Het oudste zusje (The eldest sister )and Sajetknoopster (Woman knotting sagathy) (p. 12, cat. nos. 84-86). Both the title and Van Gogh’s description suggest that he is referring to The eldest sister.

19. Clara Montalba exhibited four drawings: Salzburg, Lagny (Seine et Marne) (Salzburg, Lagny (Seine et Marne), Sint Marcuskerk te Venetie (St Mark’s in Venice) and De brug te Naäs (Zweden) (The bridge at Naäs (Sweden)) (p. 12, cat. nos. 77-80).

20. In August-September 1881 Van Gogh could have seen at Goupil’s six paintings (nos. 10541, 10542, 13176, 14465, 15569, 15570) and three watercolours (nos. 10537, 10651, 10652) by Neuhuys (no first name is mentioned), and one painting (no. 15246) and five watercolours (nos. 9738, 10314, 10573-10575) by Valkenburg (RKD, Goupil Ledgers).

21. Jacob Maris exhibited Winter (Winter), Strand (Beach) and Aan de piano (At the piano) (p. 10, cat. nos. 53-55). The latter was perhaps the watercolour Two girls, the artist’s daughters at the piano, c. 1880 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). Ill. 1109 , or The duet (The Hague, Gemeentemuseum). It is not certain whether the reproduction in Elsevier’s Geïllustreerd Maandblad 1-2 (1891) was based on this watercolour or on a variant. Cf. exhib. cat. Amsterdam 2002, pp. 136-138, cat. no. 75, and exhib. cat. The Hague 2005, pp. 29-30 (ill. 27).

22. It is not known which of Willem Maris’s drawings Van Gogh is referring to.

23. There were four drawings by Johannes Bosboom on display: Kerk te Hoorn (Church at Hoorn), Kerk te Hoorn (schets) (Church at Hoorn (sketch)), Deel in het Gooi (Barn in the Gooi) and In het weeshuis te Delft (schets) (In the orphanage at Delft (sketch)) (p. 8, cat. nos. 25-28).

24. The windmills on the Weeskinderendijk, which Theo knew from his visit to Dordrecht on 25 February 1877 (cf. letter 103). The drawing Van Gogh made is Windmills near Dordrecht (F 850 / JH 15 ); he undoubtedly worked it up into a watercolour in Etten.

25. The shopkeeper Allegonda Johanna Liernur, widow of Willem Hendrik Stam, ran a shop selling drawing materials at Papestraat 15 in The Hague. See Hefting 1976, p. 130; Adriaan Venema, G.H. Breitner, 1857-1923. Bussum 1981, p. 127, and Adresboeken 1883-1884.

26. The sheets in Charles Bargue’s Exercices au fusain are made of lightly tinted, cream-coloured paper.

27. De Bock’s estate contained four etchings by Jean-François Millet. It was possibly these etchings (and not drawings) which the artist purchased from Theo van Gogh in Paris: Allant au travail – ‘Going to work’, La couseuse, La baratteuse (Woman sewing, Woman churning butter) and A la veille (Early evening). See Collection Théophile de Bock 1905, p. 36, cat. nos. 178-181. As regards the first three, see Alfred Lebrun, Catalogue of the etchings, heliographs, lithographs, and woodcuts done by Jean-Francois Millet. New York 1887, pp. 24-25, 36-37, cat. nos. 10, 11, 20: Woman sewing; Woman churning butter and Going out to the fields. It was perhaps this De Bock about whom Mrs van Gogh wrote to Theo on 5 July 1880: ‘It’s nice that you’ll have a good friend in Mr de Bock until October’ (FR b2495).