7. Imitation of Christ | Notes | Van Gogh: The Life Biography

Notes

Chapters

A Fanatic Heart

The Early Years

The Dutch Years

The French Years

Ici Repose

Chapters

102

1. "Société anonyme"

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 313: "It was finally agreed that the group be called simply Societe anonyme des artistespeintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc." Among the group's other early names was "The Intransigents" (Denvir, ed., pp. 99-100).

2. "Impressionalists"

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, pp. 325-326.

3. "Impressionists"

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 323.

4. "lunatics"

Denvir, ed., pp. 99-100. (See Ch. 7, n. 16.)

5. "even the most"

Denvir, ed., p. 102: The Impressionists' early supporter quoted in the text was Louis-Émile-Edmond Duranty, a friend of the Goncourt brothers and Degas and "habitué of the Café Guerbois," an early Impressionist gathering place.

6. rejected the use

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 338.

7. "little fragments"

Rewald, quoting Philippe Burty, The History of Impressionism, p. 351: "They are like little fragments of the mirror of universal life, and the swift and colorful, subtle and charming things reflected in them well deserve our attention and our admiration." In a London newspaper review of the 1876 show, Stéphane Mallarmé waxed even more poetic: "As to the details of the picture, nothing should be absolutely fixed in order that we may feel that the bright gleam which lights the picture, or the diaphanous shadow which veils it, are only seen in passing, and just when the spectator beholds the represented subject, which being composed of a harmony of reflected and ever-changing lights, cannot be supposed always to look the same, but palpitates with movement, light, and life ... That which I preserve through the power of Impressionism is not the material portion which already exists, superior to any mere representation of it, but the delight of having recreated nature touch by touch. I leave the massive and tangible solidity to its fitter exponent, sculpture. I content myself with reflecting on the clear and durable mirror of painting, that which perpetually lives yet dies every moment, which only exists by the will of Idea, yet constitutes in my domain the only authentic and certain merit of nature -- the Aspect." (Rewald, quoting Stéphane Mallarmé, The History of Impressionism, pp. 372-373.)

8. "next wave"

Mathews, p. 34.

9. catcalls and guffaws

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 370: Ever since the group's first show in April the previous year (1874), arguments had flown back and forth in hushed gallery conversations and drunken café debates. Every time one of the rebel group sold a painting -- as when Manet sold his paean to Frans Hals, Bon Bock, for a stunning six thousand francs (Rewald, The History of Impressionism, pp. 309-310) -- their partisans celebrated; every time one of them suffered a fresh indignity or sunk to a new depth of destitution -- as when Monet offered twenty-five paintings for the price of one (ibid., p. 364) -- the skeptics clucked with satisfaction. So bitter and heated did the arguments become that after one especially vitriolic review (Denvir, ed., pp. 99-100), Edouard Manet's brother threatened to challenge the reviewer to a duel (Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 370). In December 1874, Eugène Manet married Berthe Morisot, who was singled out for special vilification in the review of the 1876 show: "Five or six lunatics, of whom one is a woman, a group of unfortunates, afflicted with the madness of ambition, have got together there to exhibit their works ... There is also a woman in this group, as there nearly always is in any gang; she is called Berthe Morizot [sic], and she makes an interesting spectacle. With her, feminine grace is retained amidst the outpourings of a mind in delirium."

10. "crimes"

Rewald, quoting Louis Leroy, The History of Impressionism, p. 320: "Call it the sloppiness of tone and I'd understand you better -- Oh, Corot, Corot, what crimes are committed in your name! It was you who brought into fashion this messy composition."

11. "absurdities"

Rewald, quoting an American critic, The History of Impressionism, pp. 325-326: The critic (who is not credited specifically in Appleton's Journal) referred to the 1876 show at Durand-Ruel as "that highly comical exhibition" and described Monet's Breakfast and the Boulevard des Capucines as "two of the most absurd daubs in that laughable collection of absurdities."

12. "mud-splashes"

Rewald, quoting an unnamed critic, The History of Impressionism, p. 320.

13. "war on beauty"

Rewald, quoting an unnamed critic, The History of Impressionism, pp. 325-326.

14. "a monkey who"

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 351: Rewald is quoting a response from Albert Wolff (a critic for Le Figaro) to Manet's written request for Le Figaro to publish a story on an exhibition and sale at the Hôtel Drouot. Manet wrote this letter on behalf of Monet, Sisley, Renoir, Morisot, and himself (ibid., p. 351).

15. "Sheer lunacy"

Albert Wolff, quoted in Denvir, ed., p. 100: "These self-styled artists, who call themselves 'The Intransigents' or 'The Impressionists', take a canvas, some paint and brushes, throw some tones haphazardly on to the canvas, and then sign it. ... A frightening spectacle of human vanity so far adrift that it verges on sheer lunacy." This was written and published by Albert Wolff in Le Figaro on April 3, 1876 (ibid.).

16. "a horrifying spectacle"

Denvir, ed., pp. 99-100, quoting Wolff, n.p.: "An exhibition of so-called 'paintings' has opened at the Durand-Ruel gallery. The inoffensive passer-by, attracted by the flags which adorn the façade, may go in, and if he does, finds displayed to his affrighted eyes a horrifying spectacle. Five or six lunatics, of whom one is a woman, a group of unfortunates, afflicted with the madness of ambition, have got together there to exhibit their works." The object of Wolff's redicule was the Second Impressionist Exhibition, which was held at 11, rue Le Peletier, and which featured nineteen artists, including twenty-four works by Degas, twelve by Pissarro, eighteen by Monet, and fifteen by Renoir and Sisley (ibid., p. 98). Wolff’s article does not specify which of the many artists on display deserved the label “lunatic” -- other than Morisot, of course; although he was probably referring to Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley.

17. group of the upstarts

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 370: The group included Sisley and Morisot, in addition to Monet and Renoir. According to Rewald, Morisot "did not actually need the money but was unwilling to remain aloof while her colleagues faced new trials."

18. central auction house

"History of Drouot": At the time (and until recently), all of Paris's auctioneers worked out of the premises of Hôtel Drouot as auctions were all government-regulated and auctioneers were quasi-government officials.

19. howled insults

Denvir, ed., p. 90.

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20. fifty francs

Denvir, ed., p. 90.

21. "That's for the frame!"

Quoted in Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 354: The auctioneer, Durand-Ruel himself, "had taken the precaution of ordering expensive frames and suspected that many bidders were more attracted by them than by the paintings."

22. "would take me off"

Quoted in Denvir, ed., p. 90: We have revised slightly corrected for the awkwardness of Denvir's original: "Afterwards it seemed as though I would be on the point of being taken to a lunatic asylum."

23. "They treated us"

Quoted in Denvir, ed., p. 90.

24. call the police

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 354.

25. an apartment

BVG 30, 7/6/1875: The exact address of the apartment is not known. In later years, Vincent would typically gravitate to the cheaper residential areas that inevitably grew up for transients around train stations, such as the Gard du Nord (North Station) on the eastern edge of Montmartre. The fact that Vincent shared the apartment house with Harry Gladwell, the son of a wealthy English bookseller, may suggest, however, that the apartment was not in one of the seedier areas of Paris or of Montmartre. Vincent’s brief description of it would support that inference.

Context:
JLB 37, 7/6/1875: "I've rented a small room in Montmartre which you'd like; it's small, but overlooks a little garden full of ivy and Virginia creeper."

26. only blocks

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 197. The Guerbois was located at 11, grande rue des Batignolles (later avenue de Clichy); The Nouvelle-Athènes, on the place Pigalle, both within a roughly three-block radius of the rue Chaptal (the blocks are very irregular) (ibid., p. 399). The group's transition from one café to the other was a gradual, as well as historic process, but seems to have been well underway by the time of Vincent’s stay in Paris in 1875–76.

27. Vincent worked

Bailey, Van Gogh in England, pp. 33, 35: Bailey does not support this statement. However, the argument in the text -- that Vincent could not help but encounter the controversy surrounding the Impressionists -- would apply regardless of the Goupil branch at which he worked. Also, his work would have required him to move with some frequency between the branches.

28. Renoir set up

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, pp. 385-386.

29. young dancers

Wagner, n.p.: These young girls were nicknamed "rats." The dancers were known as “les petits rats de l’opera” (or “petit rats” for short). They were often drawn from the poorest families in Paris and began training with the Parisian Ballet and Opera when they were as young as six.

30. Degas could be seen

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 380: "[Degas] began to frequent music halls, café concerts, and circuses, once more attracted by the attitudes of performers obeying a merciless routine."

31. studios

"At Renoir's Home, rue St.-Georges (formerly The Artist's Studio, rue St.-Georges)": Renoir's studio, before he moved to Montmartre, was located on the rue St. Georges, one of several alternative routes to the gallery district from the rue Chaptal.

32. rejected one

See Ch. 7, n. 33.

33. invited the public

Rewald, citing Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Antonin Proust, and Adolphe Tabarant, The History of Impressionism, pp. 366 and 396, n. 30.

34. thousands did

Rewald, citing Moreau-Nélaton, Proust, and Tabarant, The History of Impressionism, pp. 366 and 396, n. 30.

35. banners

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 370. (See Ch. 7, n. 16.)

36. Durand-Ruel gallery

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, pp. 366-367: The gallery of Paul Durand-Ruel was located at 11, rue le Peletier, a short street only a few blocks up the rue la Fayette up from the place de l'Opera, near the Hôtel Drouot, and roughly halfway between the Goupil stores on the avenue l'Opera and the boulevard Montmartre.

37. Japanese kimono

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, pp. 366-367: To general astonishment, Monet's Japonnerie actually sold for the respectable sum of two thousand francs.

38. visited the site

BVG 29, 6/29/1875: Vincent went to the Hôtel Drouot to see a sale of drawings by the recently deceased Millet. That seminal experience is discussed in a later chapter (see Chapter 24).

Context:
JLB 36, 6/29/1875: "When I entered the room in Hôtel Drouot where they were exhibited, I felt something akin to: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

39. Paul Gauguin

Rewald, The History of Impressionism, p. 600.

40. "I have seen"

BVG 371, 6/1/1884-6/15/1884: Vincent mentions Impressionism once, in November 1882, although in a way that suggests his understanding of it is quite shaky and his attitude toward it dismissive. Referring to Claude Lantier, the fictional painter in Zola's Le Ventre de Paris (Belly of Paris), Vincent complains: "one would like to see Zola doing a kind of painter different from Lantier for once, who it seems to me is drawn from life by Zola after someone or other, and certainly not the worst, from the movement that was known as Impressionists, I believe. And they aren't the ones who make up the core of the body of artists." (JLB 288, 11/26/1882-11/27/1882; emphasis in original.)

Context:
BVG 371, 6/1/1884-6/15/1884: "When I hear you mention so many new names, it is not always easy for me to understand because I have seen absolutely nothing of them."
JLB 450, June 1884: "When I hear you talk about a lot of new names, it's not always possible for me to understand when I've seen absolutely nothing by them" (emphasis in original).

41. "it's not quite"

BVG 371, 6/1/1884-6/15/1884. Furthermore, Vincent wrote (even more astonishingly): "I'm not particularly curious about or eager for something different or newer" (JLB 450, June 1884).

Context:
BVG 371, 6/1/1884-6/15/1884: "And from what you told me about 'impressionism,' I have indeed concluded that it is different from what I thought, but it's not quite clear to me what it really is."
JLB 450, June 1884: "And from what you said about 'Impressionism,' I've grasped that it's something different from what I thought it was, but it's still not entirely clear to me what one should understand by it."

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42. auditorium

"A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon," n.p.: The capacity of the Metropolitan Tabernacle was more than four thousand. The hall had 3,600 regular seats and perhaps one thousand additional side seats and "flap seats." Yet crowds of six thousand and more were reported to have fitted into the building. A contemporary observer described how "the aisles were solid blocks" (quoted by Weinreb and Hibbert, eds., p. 529).

43. California and Australia

"A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon," n.p.: "Content to exercise his ministry in London, [Spurgeon] did not need to go afield, for representatives of all the world came to him. An American outside the tabernacle asked another man, 'At what time do they open the door? I am a stranger from California, six thousand miles from here. Sorry I can't tell you, but I am a little way from home myself,' was the quiet response, 'I come from Sydney, a little matter of twelve thousand miles from here, I reckon.'"

44. Among the pilgrims

BVG 66, 5/12/1876: In his surviving letters, Vincent never specifically mentioned seeing Spurgeon or going to the Metropolitan Tabernacle. However, the period in which he would have been introduced to Spurgeon falls within the six-month gap in letters between September 1874 and February 1875. The thrice-weekly commotion around the Tabernacle would have been an unavoidable fixture of his immediate neighborhood. A comment he made in Paris, less than a year later -- "there's something moving about seeing the thousands now flocking to hear those evangelists," (JLB 82, 5/12/1876) may refer to Spurgeon (it is said in the context of a discussion of a similar congregation in Eliot's Silas Marner, although Vincent appears to have overlooked that Eliot's portrait is distinctly unflattering). Paulus Görlitz, with whom Vincent worked in Dordrecht in 1877, recalled that Spurgeon was "one of [Vincent's] favorite writers" at the time (Görlitz, "Among the People," in Stein, ed., p. 42). When Vincent writes "I regret not having gone to hear Moody and Sankey when they were in London," he is probably referring to an appearance at the Tabernacle by the famous American preaching-singing duo, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, who were disciples of Spurgeon (JLB 82, 5/12/1876). So persuasive is the circumstantial evidence that Bailey dispenses with the conditional (Bailey, p. 67).

When Vincent wrote "I regret not having gone to hear Moody and Sankey when they were in London," he was probably referring to an appearance at the Tabernacle by the famous American preaching-singing duo, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, who were disciples of Spurgeon (JLB 82, 5/12/1876). So persuasive is the circumstantial evidence that Bailey dispenses with reservations entirely and presents their association as a certainty (see Bailey, p. 67). Although JLB disagree, we believe that the letter that Vincent wrote to a church in London, seeking employment (JLB 84, 6/17/1876), may have been addressed to the Metropolitan Tabernacle or one of its satellite institutions. Spurgeon maintained a large colportage mission (i.e., door-to-door Bible distribution) as well as a school for one thousand children and a college to train preachers (Weinreb and Hibbert, eds., p. 529).

Context:
JLB 82, 5/12/1876: "And there's something moving about seeing the thousands now flocking to hear those evangelists."

45. Victoria herself

"A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon."

46. "boy preacher"

Drummond, p. 30.

47. size of a boxing ring

De Maré, pp. 142-143: De Maré describes the platform as "some twenty-five feet square."

48. four thousand worshippers

See Ch. 7, n. 42.

49. "lifting men"

"The Spurgeon Archive": "For Whom Did Christ Die?" Sermon No. 1191, delivered on September 6, 1874.

50. "bringing joy"

"The Spurgeon Archive": "For Whom Did Christ Die?" Sermon No. 1191, delivered on September 6, 1874.

51. moved around

De Maré, pp. 142-143: De Maré wrote that Spurgeon “had plenty of room to manoeuvre, believing with good sense that the power of oratory lay as much in the legs and arms as in sonorous cadence." A prominent actor of the day, James Sheridan Knowles, urged his students to watch Spurgeon preach. "He is absolutely perfect in oratory; and, besides that, a master in the art of acting,” Knowles wrote of Spurgeon (quoted in Drummond, p. 202). “He can do anything he pleases with his audience; he can make them laugh and cry and laugh again in five minutes” (ibid.).

52. the stage

"A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon": The stage was set with a table, sofa, and chair. It was carpeted and upholstered in a plum color. See the first-person account reprinted in "A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon."

53. "common sense"

"The Spurgeon Archive": "Girding on the Harness," Sermon No. 1193, delivered on August 6, 1874.

54. addressed the deity

De Maré, pp. 142-143. Referring to Jesus, Spurgeon wrote: "It often happens that for persons whom we love we speak of them familiarly when we are in the circle of those who join in our esteem of them" ("The Spurgeon Archive": "The Master," Sermon No. 1198, delivered in 1874).

55. shocking

"A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon": Spurgeon used a vocabulary often described as "Saxon," which was coded criticism of the Anglican church's Latinized liturgy.

56. "the real humanity"

"The Spurgeon Archive": "The Agony in Gethsemane," Sermon No. 1199, delivered on October 18, 1874.

57. "Feel him to be near"

"The Spurgeon Archive": "The Agony in Gethsemane," Sermon No. 1199, delivered on October 18, 1874.

58. "piled metaphor"

De Maré, p. 143.

59. mustard seeds

"The Spurgeon Archive": "The Mustard Seed: A Sermon for the Sabbath-School Teacher," Sermon No. 2110, delivered on October 20, 1889.

60. "sheep gone astray"

"The Spurgeon Archive": "For Whom Did Christ Die?" Sermon No. 1191, delivered on September 6, 1874.

61. Vincent's father

Kôdera, p. 36: Kôdera cites some interesting examples of nature-related metaphors, tropes, and conceits that Spurgeon used.

62. parental love

"The Spurgeon Archive": "I and the Children," Sermon No. 1194, delivered on September 20, 1874: "If all the loves of parents could be piled up together in one vast mound -- the love of fathers, and the still tenderer love of mothers -- yet the whole of that Alp would not equal the immeasurable love of Jesus Christ to his people. Your own children after all, it is natural, and it is right, must have the warmest place in your heart."

63. misspent youth

“The Spurgeon Archive”: In "Abundant Pardon," Sermon No. 1195, delivered on September 27, 1874, Spurgeon wrote: "I preach that which I do know." His first published sermon includes this confession: "There was a boy once -- a very sinful child -- who harkened not to the counsel of his parents" (“A Biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon”). In another, even more colorful trope, Spurgeon wrote of his adolescence: "Lashed to the wild horses of my lust, and bound hand and foot, incapable of resistance, [I] was galloping on with hell's wolves behind me ... ten thousand evil spirits seemed to be holding carnival within my brain." (ibid.). As an adult, Spurgeon had a reputation as a drinker (ibid.).

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64. "age of advice"

Gay, p. 160.

65. "anguished bourgeois"

Gay, p. 129.

66. "re-enchant their world"

Gay, p. 129.

67. "I am reading"

BVG 20, 7/31/1874.

Context:
JLB 27, 7/31/1874: "I'm reading a lot again."

68. biographies

Gay, p. 160.

69. eccentric

Michelet, p. 165: In L'amour (1858), Michelet wrote: "Nature has caused [woman] to breathe mainly by the four upper ribs. From this necessity results woman's greatest beauty, the gentle undulation of the breast."

70. obsession with blood

Michelet, p. 44.

71. historical accounts

BVG 111, 10/21/1877. In addition to Michelet's account, Vincent read (1) "a little" of Carlyle's The French Revolution (ibid.), which JLB speculate he found in Taine’s Histoire de la littérature anglaise (1863-1864) (ibid., n. 2) (Taine's seminal work on the subject, Les Origines de la France contemporaine was not published until 1878–85); (2) Lamartine's popular History of the Girondins (Vincent had read the same author's ire de la Restauration in London [JLB 119, 6/4/1877-6/5/1877]); and (3) an account by Guizot (JLB 461, 9/22/1884-9/28/1884), perhaps Histoire de France racontée a mes petites enfants. Sund suggests that Vincent did not read these accounts until later, in 1877, when he was studying to prepare for university (Sund, p. 24). However, Vincent clearly associated Michelet and other authors and images of the Revolution with his time in London. "That etching by Jules Goupil [Citizen of the Year V] hung for a very long time in my room in London,” he wrote in 1877, “in the days when I was very wrapped up in Michelet and other French writers" (JLB 132, 10/21/1877). In that same year (1877), Vincent did indeed report making a list of "everything I can remember concerning the French Revolution." But it is unlikely that these Godless accounts of a Godless revolution were a part of his assigned studies in preparation for the ministry. In September 1875, after leaving London and before starting his university studies, Vincent renounced Michelet and Renan (JLB 46, 9/9/1875; putting a likely end-date on his reading of these works – at least his first reading).

Context:
JLB 132, 10/21/1877: "Am busy making an extract from [John Lathrop] Motley, including capture of Den Briel and siege of Haarlem, Alkmaar and Leiden, have drawn a map to go with it, so as to complete it. Have also finished an extract from Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress."

72. novels inspired

Sund, pp. 23-24: The most famous of the many sentimental novels based on the events of the Revolution were the so-called romans nationaux [national romances] by the French writing team Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian. Vincent always referred to their works with great admiration: "Do you know Erckmann-Chatrian, Le conscrit, Waterloo, and especially L'ami Fritz and also Madame Thérèse?" (JLB 55, 10/11/1875). George Eliot had a very cifferent view of these historical potboilers. In Daniel Deronda, Eliot commented with her usual piquancy on Erckmann-Chatrian's Histoire de Conscrit: "'I don't care what you call it,' said Mab, flirting away her thimble. 'Call it a chapter in Revelations. It makes me want to do something good, something grand. It makes me so sorry for everybody. It makes me like Schiller -- I want to take the world in my arms and kiss it. I must kiss you instead, little mother!' She threw her arms round her mother's neck." (Eliot, p. 198.)

73. A Tale of Two Cities

BVG 111, 10/21/1877: Vincent did not mention Dickens’s famous tale of the Revolution until October 1877, but there is no indication at that time that he had not read the book previously. It is more likely that he read this beloved English novel while in London -- or perhaps while in Paris, where the action is set – but not while in Amsterdam, where he was when he first mentioned it. In the same breath as the Dickens book, Vincent mentioned several authors (Michelet, Carlyle) and works of art (Citizen of the Year V) that we know he read or saw long before this date. As of 1880, he had forgotten the first name of the hero in Dickens’s Tale, Sydney Carton, which also argues for an earlier date of first reading (JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880).

Context:
JLB 132, 10/21/1877: "All those French paintings about the days of the Revolution, such as The Girondists and Last victims of the terror and Marie Antoinette by [Paul] Delaroche and [Charles] Muller, and that Young citizen and other paintings by Goupil, and then Anker and so many others, what a beautiful whole they form with many books, such as those by Michelet and Carlyle and also Dickens (Tale of two cities)."

74. Revolution

BVG 111, 10/21/1877. Vincent listed a number of "paintings about the days of the Revolution" in addition to Jules Goupil’s "young citizen" (Citizen of the Year V; discussed in the text, and see Ch. 7, n. 73). His list included three paintings by Paul Delaroche and Charles Muller (The Girondists, Last victims of the terror, and Marie Antoinette), as well as “other paintings by Goupil, and then [Adolphe] Anker and so many others.” Vincent said about these paintings:”What a beautiful whole they form” (ibid.) – his highest compliment. However, it is not entirely clear from the context whether he was reporting on an actual exhibition that he attended, or just creating one in his head. Either way, the collection of images (and books mentioned in the same paragraph, including by Michelet, Carlyle, and Dickens) triggered an aesthetic epiphany – a rapture of “it” -- tantamount to a spiritual conversion.

Context:
JLB 132, 10/21/1877: "The Girondists and Last victims of the terror and Marie Antoinette by Delaroche ... and then Anker and so many others, what a beautiful whole they form."

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75. bonnet rouge

Druick and Zegers, p. 20. Goupil’s painting Citizen of the Year V (and prints thereof) depicted a young boy wearing the signature headgear of the French revolutionaries of 1789, the bonnet rouge, a simple red cloth cap.

76. "indescribably beautiful"

BVG 111, 10/21/1877.

Context:
BVG 111, 10/21/1877: "I saw the picture in Paris, indescribably beautiful and unforgettable."
JLB 132, 10/21/1877: "I saw the painting in Paris, indescribably beautiful and unforgettable."

77. a face like Christ's

Druick and Zegers, p. 20: According to Druick and Zegers, the portrait of the revolutionary youth reminded Vincent not just of Christ but of others as well: "The boy reminded Vincent of himself, perhaps literally, in terms of physical resemblance, and certainly symbolically." Vincent later saw Theo in the portrait, too, although he never stopped seeing himself. The significance of this conflation of himself and his brother (which will be repeated at the end of his life with hallucinatory intensity) will be taken up in several subsequent chapters.

78. "marked by"

Quoted in Druick and Zegers, p. 20.

79. a devotional icon

BVG 115, 12/4/1877. Vincent arranged a print of Citizen of the Year V on his wall between two images from Bargue's Cours de Dessin (Part 1, No. 39 and No. 53). According to Vincent, the first was Anne of Brittany (ibid), and, according to JLB, the second was Jeune Femme (Young Woman) (ibid., n. 23). Note how this arrangement anticipates the elaborate "pendant" plan that Vincent recommended later for La Berceuse (F 508, JH 1671, February, 1889, oil on canvas, 36.5 by 29.1 in, 92.7 by 73.8 cm, Boston Museum of Fine Arts). Vincent’s plan involved placing the portrait between two sunflower paintings.

Context:
JLB 136, 12/3/1877-12/4/1877: "While working today I had lying before me a sheet from Bargue's Cours de dessin, 1st part, No. 39, Anne of Brittany. That was already hanging in my room in London with No. 53, and 'A young citizen' was then hanging between them."

80. "There is something"

BVG 111, 10/21/1877: We have slightly altered the translation. About eight months later, Vincent saw a reproduction of Citizen of the Year V in a magazine (L'Illustration) and called Theo's attention to the accompanying inscription, which clearly echoed Vincent's feelings about the image: "'Eyes that have seen the spectacle of the dreadful guillotine, a mind that has survived all the sights of the Revolution. He is almost surprised to find himself still alive after so many disasters.'" (JLB 145, 7/22/1878.)

Context:
BVG 111, 10/21/1877: "In all of them there is something of the spirit of the resurrection and the life -- that lives though it seems dead, for it is not dead, but sleepeth."
JLB 132, 10/21/1877: "In all of that combined there's something of the spirit which is that of the Resurrection and the Life, which shall live though it seems dead, for it is not dead, but it sleepeth" (emphasis in original).

81. witness and classify

Ultimately, the ideas of Taine and other "positivists" (so-called for their exclusive reliance on the "positive" data of experience) would reshape Vincent's imagination through the genius of writers like Émile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, and Guy de Maupassant, all of whom responded to the mandate of "real life."

82. poetic excesses

Sund, p. 3.

83. moralistic sentimentality;

Sund, p. 3.

84. resisted Taine's contempt

BVG R38, 7/2/1883. In 1883, eight years after encountering Taine, Vincent wrote his friend Anthon Van Rappard to congratulate Émile Zola for “scor[ing] a hit on Taine" in an essay in Mes Haines. Taine “deserved it,” Vincent noted, “because he's sometimes irritating with his mathematical analysis" (JLB 359, 7/3/1883; emphasis in original). Still, Vincent conceded, "[Taine] arrives at curiously deep pronouncements" (ibid.).

Context:
JLB 359, 7/3/1883: "But I'm glad, I just wanted to add, that he scores a hit on Taine, who deserves it because he's sometimes irritating with his mathematical analysis. Still, through that he (Taine) arrives at curiously deep pronouncements. For example, I read a remark of his -- about Dickens and Carlyle: 'the essence of the English character is the absence of happiness.' Now I don't want to insist on the greater or lesser accuracy, but just say that such words are evidence of very deep reflection, looking into the darkness with one's eyes until one sees something more in it where others no longer see anything. I find that remark beautiful, extraordinarily beautiful, and it says more to me than a thousand other remarks on the subject, and in this case Taine deserves our respect." (Emphasis in original.)

85. "Inner realities"

Taine, translated by Edward Hyams, p. 270. Reproduced by kind permission of Thames & Hudson Ltd., London.

86. "private reflection"

Taine, translated by Edward Hyams, p. xiv. Reproduced by kind permission of Thames & Hudson Ltd., London.

87. struggle with the unknowable

Taine, p. 270: Taine exalts this notion of "inwardness": "the individual conscience, the individual soul, face to face with the unknowable, elevating itself to a loftiness of feeling and behaviour by dwelling upon the idea of the Power which must lie beyond the mystery, the au-dela" (ibid., p. xii). Taine reduces the idea almost to a motto, which could have served as Vincent's later in his life: "Inward evermore to outward -- so in life, and so in art, which still is life." We have chosen most of our Taine quotations from his Notes on England, as that is the Taine book Vincent mostly likely read (JLB 112, 4/22/1877-4/23/1877), although it would have been very unlike Vincent to stop at one book by an author he liked as much as he liked Taine.

88. mysteries of life

Taine, p. xii. See Ch. 7, n. 87.

89. truth and beauty

Taine, p. 270: For Taine, art was the truest form of piety, "spreading over the infinity of nature its own feeling for the holiness of beauty."

90. "intimations of the infinite"

Taine, translated by Edward Hyams, p. 270. Reproduced by kind permission of Thames & Hudson Ltd., London.

91. "Unseen World"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 10.

92. In a conceit

As a Van Gogh, Vincent could hardly have failed to register the metaphor of clothing, which runs as a leitmotif throughout Sartor Resartus. The title itself means "the tailor re-tailored," and the literary masterwork of the biographer-narrator's subject, Diogenes Teufelsdröckh, is titled Clothes, Their Origin and Influence.

93. special resonance

BVG R30, 3/5/1883: A letter that Vincent wrote to a friend in 1883 suggests that the metaphor was not lost on him. He called Sartor Resartus a book about “the philosophy of old clothes.” "Under 'old clothes,’” he explained, “[Carlyle] includes all manner of forms, and in the case of religion all dogmas … One nice comment on 'the philosophy of old clothes' is the following. Carlyle not only strips mankind naked but skins it too. Something like that. Well, that isn't true, but it's true that he's honest enough not to call the shirt the skin.” He called the book “beautiful -- and honest -- and humane,” and while acknowledging that some considered Carlyle “a monster,” Vincent insisted: “I see love of mankind in him, a great deal of love,” and compared him to Jesus – “a certain man who wrote no books but whose words have survived nonetheless.” (JLB 325, 3/5/1883.)

Context:
JLB 325, 3/5/1883: "Do you have the portrait of Carlyle -- that beautiful one in The Graphic? At the moment I'm reading his 'Sartor resartus' -- the philosophy of old clothes -- under 'old clothes' he includes all manner of forms, and in the case of religion all dogmas. It's beautiful -- and honest -- and humane. There's been a lot of grumbling about this book, as with his other books. Many regard Carlyle as a monster. One nice comment on 'the philosophy of old clothes' is the following. Carlyle not only strips mankind naked but skins it too. Something like that. Well, that isn't true, but it's true that he's honest enough not to call the shirt the skin -- and far from finding a desire to belittle man in his work, I for one see that he puts man in a high position in the universe. At the same time, more than bitter criticism, I see love of mankind in him, a great deal of love. He -- Carlyle -- learned much from Goethe, but even more I believe from a certain man who wrote no books but whose words have survived nonetheless, although he didn't write them down himself, i.e. Jesus. Before Carlyle he included many forms of all kinds under 'old clothes.'"

94. threadbare clothes

Druick and Zegers, p. 18. For a very thorough discussion of the influence of Carlyle's ideas on Vincent van Gogh, see Druick and Zegers, p. 22. We note that, over the years, Vincent read and re-read Carlyle (and other writers), each time taking from them something different, depending on his emotional and psychological needs at that moment.

95. Like Vincent

By emphasizing the biographical dimension of Sartor Resartus (Book II), we do not mean to suggest that Vincent did not appreciate the broader, deeper insights of the work. It should be noted, however, that Vincent was an intensely autobiographical reader, capable of ignoring mountains of hay in the search for a needle of self-affirmation. Also, while current critical thinking recognizes that the work as a whole makes an extraordinarily profound statement about the limits of knowing, most Victorian readers found Books I and III of Sartor abstruse and unrewarding (Uglow, n.p.).

96. Sartor Resartus

Citing the inclusion of multiple excerpts from Sartor Resartus in Vincent's poetry albums, Pabst maintains that, even though Vincent did not mention the book until 1883 (JLB 394, 10/12/1883), in fact he almost certainly read it earlier -- as early as 1875 (Pabst, ed., p. 25).

97. "one lone Soul"

Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, p. 219.

98. eagerly consumed

The book's full title is On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History. Citing the inclusion of multiple excerpts from On Heroes in Vincent's poetry albums, Pabst believes that Vincent had read the book by 1875, even though he did not mention it until 1883 (JLB 325, 3/5/1883). (Pabst, ed., p. 25). Apparently, he read Carlyle's Past and Present around the same time. (See ibid., pp. 69-70.)

99. "the greatest of all"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 15: "The greatest of all Heroes is One -- whom we do not name here!"

100. Goethe

BVG R30, 3/5/1883.

Context:
JLB 325, 3/5/1883: "He -- Carlyle -- learned much from Goethe, but even more I believe from a certain man who wrote no books but whose words have survived nonetheless, although he didn't write them down himself, i.e. Jesus."

107

101. "discern the loveliness of things"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 14: "He that can discern the loveliness of things," Carlyle wrote, "we call him Poet, Painter, Man of Genius, gifted, lovable." The word "lovable" must have stood out to Vincent.

102. "inner harmony"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 148.

103. "Through every star"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 13.

104. "an unimportant, wandering"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 117.

105. "wading in deep waters"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 153.

106. "smooth-shaven respectabilities"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 290. Carlyle's primary example of a reprobate turned hero is Oliver Cromwell, champion of Puritanism and leader of England’s Civil War –- by Vincent’s lights, a galvanic event equivalent to France’s Revolution. According to Carlyle, Cromwell had a "nervous, melancholic temperament” and had "fallen in the dissipations of youth" (ibid., p. 294).

107. "sincerity of heart"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 15.

108. "clear, deep-seeing"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 108.

109. "divinity"

Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History, p. 33.

110. "a metaphor"

Renan, p. 139.

111. delusions of superstitious minds

Renan, p. 139.

112. raised in the shadow

Verkade-Bruinin, pp. 19-21: By this time, one of Vincent's uncles, the prominent preacher Johannes Paulus Stricker (married to Anna Carbentus's oldest sister, Willemina) had already written a "scientific" biography in which Jesus was depicted as “a human being living in historical times," and "a thinker of the most noble kind."

113. biblical humanism

Wagener, in Masheck, ed., pp. 196-197.

114. "provincial"

Renan, p. 177.

115. "an exquisite sympathy"

Renan, p. 66: Renan describes Jesus as possessing “an exquisite sympathy” for which “nature furnished him each moment with expressive images.” The exact same description could be applied to Vincent.

116. sought solace

We know this aspect of Renan's portrait resonated with Vincent. In one of the albums he sent to Theo, Vincent transcribed the relevant passage: "[Jesus] liked to pray or rather to meditate out on the mountains and in the solitary places where man has always looked for God" (Pabst, ed., p. 27).

117. shunned his family

Renan, p. 163: Both Renan and Vincent made much of Jesus saying in Luke 14:26: "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple." The full passage also requires that the true believer hate "wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and his own life also." Renan expressed a more specifically anti-paternalistic version of this precept in another passage, which Vincent no doubt noted: "The Christian would be praised for being a bad son ... if it was for Christ that he resisted his father" (Renan, p. 164).

118. "the bond of thought"

Renan, p. 46.

119. "ties of blood"

Renan, p. 46.

120. rent by anger

Renan, pp. 172-173: "He carried fire and rage to the very marrow."

121. rapturous enthusiasms

Meyers, p. 153: "[Renan's] Jesus is a rapturous idealist ... The fact that Vincent, himself tending towards rapturous enthusiasm, was attracted by that person is not very surprising."

122. melancholy

Renan, pp. 191-192: Renan writes of Jesus: "Terror and doubt took hold of him, and threw him into a state of exhaustion worse than death."

123. flawed man

Pabst, ed., p. 27: In his first poetry album, which he sent to Theo, Vincent transcribed the following passage from Renan: "Just as several of [Jesus'] great sides have been lost to us as a consequence of the complicity of his disciples, it is also likely that many of his faults have been concealed."

124. Obstacles irritated him

Renan, p. 166: Renan wrote of Jesus that “his struggle for the ideal against the reality became insupportable. Contact with the world pained and revolted him. Obstacles irritated him.”

125. forces of hypocrisy

Renan, pp. 171-172: “The conflicts of Jesus with official hypocrisy were continual.”

126. narrow-mindedness

Renan, pp. 170-171: Note how Renan’s description not only fits Vincent at this moment, but will track his changing attitude toward established clergymen –- especially his father: “Jesus became more and more alienated from the ancient Law. Now, the Pharisees were the true Jews -- the nerve and sinew of Judaism … They were, in general, men of a narrow mind, caring much for externals; their devoutness was haughty, formal, and self-satisfied.”

127. isolated and ostracized

Renan, p. 177: According to Renan, Jesus “risked being driven from the synagogue, which, in a mean and bigoted society, was the greatest degradation.” Such an “excommunication,” says Renan “carried with it the confiscation of all possessions.”

128. disdained convention

Renan, p. 108: In another passage that echoes through Vincent’s lifetime of defiant strangeness and estrangement, Renan writes about Jesus: “F. 108. ar from seeking to soothe the murmurs stirred up by his disdain for the social susceptibilities of the time, he seemed to take pleasure in exciting them. Never did anyone avow more loftily this contempt for the "world," which is the essential condition of great things and of great originality.

129. social niceties

Renan, p. 108.

130. "Contact with"

Renan, p. 166.

131. "forgotten the pleasure"

Renan, p. 163.

108

132. Vincent never showed

Vincent's lack of interest in Christ's Passion was no doubt partly a function of his religious upbringing. Formed in reaction to Catholic dogma and rites, the Dutch Reformed Church generally eschewed the Catholic emphasis on Christ's suffering and death. The Groningers especially, in the Humanist tradition of Erasmus, emphasized "religious feeling and the experience of Christian life and love" rather than the crucifixion and resurrection. "The sense of sin and guilt was denied, in preference to a more optimistic view of mankind" (Wagener, in Masheck, ed., 196-197).

133. apocalyptic revolutions

Renan, p. 146: Vincent clearly recognized the apocalyptic dimension of Renan's version of Jesus's story. In one of his poetry albums for Theo, he transcribed this passage: "[Jesus] conceived the real city of God, the true 'palingenesis' [la renaissance], the Sermon on the Mount, the apotheosis of the weak, the love of the people, regard for the poor, and the re-establishment of all that is humble, true, and simple" (Pabst, ed., p. 26).

134. place in the soul

Pabst, ed., p. 26: Vincent implicitly recognized these two scales of apocalyptic renewal, the universal and the personal, in another passage he transcribed: "His kingdom of God was no doubt the approaching apocalypse, which was about to be unfolded in the heavens. But it was still, and probably above all, the kingdom of the soul, founded on liberty and on the filial sentiment which the virtuous man feels when resting on the bosom of his Father."

135. comfort and belonging

BVG 26, 5/8/1875: In this letter, Vincent quotes a passage from Renan.

Context:
JLB 33, 5/8/1875: "The people that makes itself the missionary of a religious thought has no other country henceforth than that thought. Man is not placed on the earth merely to be happy; nor is he placed here merely to be honest, he is here to accomplish great things through society, to arrive at nobleness, and to outgrow the vulgarity in which the existence of almost all individuals drags on."

136. heard only hints

BVG 20, 7/31/1874: One of the earliest of such "hints" may be the biblical reference in a letter from July 1874, immediately after Vincent's return to London from Helvoirt.

Context:
JLB 27, 7/31/1874: "Anna is managing well, we go on wonderful walks together. It's so beautiful here, if only one has a good and a single eye, without many beams in it."

137. "pure ideas"

b2339 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 5/30/1875.

138. "good thoughts"

b2379 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/11/1875.

139. poured out these "thoughts"

In October, an argument erupted between Theo and his father over the divinity of Christ and the existence of God. It bears the unmistakable imprint of Vincent's rising obsessions and was probably instigated, or at least fanned, in the missing letters. (See b2728 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 10/28/1874.)

140. incongruous pastiche

The same phenomenon of manic accretion shaped Vincent's correspondence. In the spring of 1875, he comforted his melancholic brother with a confusion of consoling imagery (see Ch. 7, n. 188). In an inter-store Goupil shipment, Vincent enclosed one of the poetry albums he had made for Theo; a copy of Renan's Vie de Jésus; a copy of Michelet's Jeanne d'Arc, and a print of a portrait of Camille Corot that had appeared in the London News (JLB 30, 3/6/1875). The poems he sent were generally about the ennobling sadness of Nature. Three of them were by Edmond Roche. ("I climbed the sad, bare dune, Where the sea keens its ceaseless moaning plaint" [JLB 32, 4/13/1875 and 4/18/1875].) He also enclosed a biography of Joan of Arc and an inspirational Christian blessing: "I believe that life is quite long, and the time when 'another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not' will come of its own accord" (JLB 30, 3/6/1875; quoting John 21:18). This and other letters that spring included several extended "word pictures": one of a scene from Eliot's Adam Bede (ibid.), the other of a Matthijs Maris painting (JLB 31, 4/6/1875). Clearly, these were intended by Vincent to have derivative (as well as cumulative) consoling value.

141. "divine infinite"

Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, p. 192: "Our English Revolution too originated in Religion. Men did battle, in those old days, not for Purse-sake, but for Conscience-sake. Nay, in our own days, it is no way different. The French Revolution itself had something higher in it than cheap bread and a Habeas-corpus act. Here too was an Idea; a Dynamic, not a Mechanic force. It was a struggle, though a blind and at last an insane one, for the infinite, divine nature of Right, of Freedom, of Country."

142. "Fear God"

BVG 35, 9/1/1875.

Context:
JLB 41, 8/16/1875-9/1/1875: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

143. to Brighton

BVG 57, 3/25/1876. “You know that I once went to Brighton on foot” (JLB 72, 3/23/1876). Vincent did not give an exact date for this trip. It could have been earlier than the spring/summer of 1875. JLB believe the journey “will have taken place when Van Gogh was living in London, between June 1873 and May 1875 (except for a three-month interval from October to December 1874, when he was in Paris).” (JLB 72, 3/23/1876; n. 3.) The fact that Vincent made the 50-mile (80-km) trip to Brighton, a resort on the south coast of England, "on foot" strongly suggests that he went alone and that it was not a pleasure trip: It was a pilgrimage. His religious fervor did not set in until the fall of 1874, so a date prior to that is unlikely. According to the information currently available, he did not make it to the Brighton Convention, which was held from May 27 to June 9, because he was in Paris by May 20, 1875. It is interesting to note that some of the evangelists that Vincent later came in contact with in Belgium had been to the Brighton Convention (Lutjeharms, p. 9; see chapter 11).

Context:
JLB 72, 3/23/1876: "And now you'll be 'boarding in many inns,' that's also a singular pleasure at times. You know that I once went to Brighton on foot."

144. "conventions"

BVG 76, 10/7/1876.

Context:
BVG 76, 10/7/1876: "I spent three months on the moors, you know that beautiful region where the soul retires within itself and enjoys a delicious rest, where everything breathes calm and peace; where the soul in presence of God's immaculate creation throws off the yoke of conventions, forgets society, and loosens its bonds, with the strength of renewed youth; where each thought takes the form of prayer, where everything that is not in harmony with fresh and free nature quits the heart."
JLB 93, 10/7/1876: "I have spent three months on the heath: you know, that lovely region where the soul returns to itself and enjoys sweet repose; where everything exudes peace and tranquillity; where the soul, in the presence of God's immaculate creation, shakes off the yoke of convention, forgets society and frees itself from its bonds with the vigour of returning youth; where every thought takes on the form of prayer; where the heart is emptied of everything that is not in harmony with the freshness and freedom of nature. "

145. "moving"

JLB 82, 5/12/1876.

Context:
BVG 66, 5/12/1876: "It is touching to see the thousands of people listening to the evangelists."
JLB 82, 5/12/1876: "And there's something moving about seeing the thousands now flocking to hear those evangelists."

146. at dawn

BVG 44, 11/9/1875. Elsewhere, Vincent defines his idea of an early morning: "In the morning, he [Gladwell] is already there to wake me up, usually between 5 and 6 o'clock" (JLB 55, 10/11/1875).

Context:
JLB 57, 11/9/1875: "Do you get up early? I do regularly, it's good to make a habit of it. It's precious and already very dear to me, that early morning twilight. I usually go to bed early in the evening."

147. ora et labora

BVG 39, 9/25/1875.

Context:
BVG 39, 9/25/1875: "Ora et Labora, [Pray and work] let us do our daily work, whatever the hand finds to do, with all our strength and let us believe that God will give good gifts, a part that will not be taken away, to those who ask Him for it."
JLB 50, 9/25/1875: "[O]ra et labora. Let us do our daily work, whatever the hand finds to do, with all our might, and let us believe that God will give good gifts, a part that shall not be taken away, to those who pray to Him for it."

148. eschewed the pleasures of the flesh

BVG 39a, 9/29/1875: Vincent advised his brother similarly to pursue a life of moderation.

Context:
JLB 52, 9/29/1875: "Be careful, old boy, don't lose your resilience. See things as they are, and, for yourself, don't think everything good. One can deviate, both to the left hand and to the right hand."

149. "the staff of life"

BVG 43, 10/14/1875.

Context:
BVG 43, 10/14/1875: "Especially bread, boy, 'Bread is the staff of life,' is a proverb of the English (though they are very fond of meat too, and in general take too much of it)."
JLB 56, 10/14/1875: "Especially bread, I believe, old boy, don't hesitate, 'Bread is the staff of life' as the English say (although they also have a taste for meat, and even much too much of it in general)."

150. Writing at a furious pace

At one point during the fall, Theo received almost two letters a week. In September, Vincent wrote seven letters (JLB 42, JLB 44, JLB 45 (reply), JLB 47, JLB 49, JLB 50, JLB 53) and an additional three in the first two weeks of October (JLB 54, JLB 55, and JLB 56).

151. exhortatory letters

De Leeuw, p. 49: Vincent appended to his letters long, uncut passages from religious treatises and novels. He did so with such oppressive zeal, according to de Leeuw, that later editors of his correspondence would pare letters from this period by as much as half for fear that Vincent’s "religious effusions ... would stand in the way of the appreciation of the correspondence as a whole."

152. homiletic aphorisms

BVG 43, 10/14/1875.

Context:
JLB 56, 10/14/1875: "Those who believe hasten not."

153. "[Vincent] is always"

b2363 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 9/25/1875.

109

154. "This morning I heard"

BVG 37, 9/12/1875. Two weeks later, Vincent emphasized this theme of renewal and redemption by citing a passage from Corinthians (2:17): "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (JLB 50, 9/25/1875). Clearly, Vincent's misspent youth was on his mind. In the same September letter, he admitted as much. Clearly referring to himself, he wrote: "although one has to start anew later, a well-spent youth is worth a fortune), shouldn't it then be our ambition and hope to become men like Pa" (JLB 47, 9/12/1875; emphasis added).

Context:
BVG 37, 9/12/1875: "This morning I heard a beautiful sermon on the theme: Forget what is behind you; the preacher said for example: Have more hope than memories; what there has been seriousness and blessed in your past life is not lost; wait no longer therefore, you will find it elsewhere, but advance."
JLB 47, 9/12/1875: "This afternoon I heard a beautiful sermon on 'forget that which is behind you'; part of which was: 'Have more hope than remembrances; what there was of seriousness and blessings in your past life is not lost; do not reflect on it any longer, you will find it elsewhere, but keep moving forward."

155. "keep your heart"

BVG 45, 11/15/1875. JLB identify this advice as a paraphrase of Proverbs 4:23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (JLB 58, 11/15/1875; n. 2). That Vincent was warning Theo against the temptations of sex is made clearer in the very next verse from Proverbs chapter: "Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee" (Proverbs 4:24).

Context:
BVG 45, 11/15/1875: "Has Father written you what he confided in me: ' Keep your heart against all attention, because the heart is an open door to life'? If we conform to this advice, we will stay on the narrow road, with the help of God."
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "Has Pa already said to you what he once said to me? Keep thy heart above all things; for out of it are the issues of life. Let us do that, then, and with God's help we shall succeed."

156. "rich in God"

BVG 38, 9/17/1875.

Context:
BVG 38, 9/17/1875: "Let us also pray that we become rich in God; but do not think too deeply about these things, gradually they will become dearer to you, and do as I suggested."
JLB 49, 9/17/1875: "Let us also pray that we may become rich in God. But don't think too deeply about these things, which will become clearer to you of themselves with time, and just do what I've advised you to do."

157. "You need not exaggerate"

BVG 38, 9/17/1875: We have reordered the elements of Bonger's quote. In the same letter, Vincent does summarily demote his beloved Nature: "Feeling, even a fine feeling, for the beauties of nature isn't the same as religious feeling," he argued, adding dismissively: "Nearly everyone has a feeling for nature" (JLB 49, 9/17/1875).

Context:
BVG 38, 9/17/1875: "It is the same with the feeling for art. Don't give yourself utterly to that. Keep by all means love for your work and respect for Mr. Tersteeg. Later on you will see better than now how much he deserves it. However you need not exaggerate this."
JLB 49, 9/17/1875: "The same is true of a feeling for art. Don't give in to that too much either. Hold fast especially to your love for the firm and for your work and to respect for Mr. Tersteeg. Later on you'll see, better than now, that he deserves it. You don't have to take it to extremes, though." (Emphasis in original.)

158. "Don't give"

BVG 38, 9/17/1875. (See Ch. 7, n. 157.)

Context:
JLB 49, 9/17/1875: "Don't give in to that too much either" (emphasis in original).

159. "deviations"

BVG 39a, 9/29/1875.

Context:
BVG 39a, 9/29/1875: "It is possible to deviate, to the right as well as to the left."
JLB 52, 9/29/1875: "One can deviate, both to the left hand and to the right hand."

160. "too deeply"

BVG 38, 9/17/1875.

Context:
BVG 38, 9/17/1875: "Let us also pray that we become rich in God; but do not think too deeply about these things, gradually they will become dearer to you, and do as I suggested."
JLB 49, 9/17/1875: "But don't think too deeply about these things, which will become clearer to you of themselves with time, and just do what I've advised you to do."

161. imperil his faith

BVG 39a, 9/29/1875: For this warning, Vincent cited, of all people, his father.

Context:
JLB 52, 9/29/1875: "Remember what Pa no doubt once told you too: understanding and feeling must go together" (emphasis in original).

162. "the narrow road"

BVG 45, 11/15/1875. Again echoing Proverbs (see Ch. 7, n. 155), Vincent rallied his brother using their father’s repeated cautions: "Has Pa already said to you what he once said to me? Keep thy heart above all things; for out of it are the issues of life. Let us do that, then, and with God's help we shall succeed." (JLB 58, 11/15/1875.)

Elsewhere, Vincent defined the narrow road as "solidity and simplicity and sincerity" (JLB 56, 10/14/1875). If all this sounded like his father talking, Vincent eagerly claimed the debt. After a lifetime of defiance, he now called for Theo to "conform to [Pa's] advice" (JLB 58, 11/15/1875), and openly envied his father's "patience and faith" (JLB 47, 9/12/1875). When Theo considered transferring out of The Hague -- even leaving Goupil altogether (b2372 V/1982, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 11/8/1875) -- Vincent advised caution and humility ("[Be] long-suffering and meek, as much as possible" [JLB 37, 7/6/1875]). It is not clear from Vincent's letters whether Theo’s transfer to London was Vincent's idea or Theo's (JLB 39, 7/24/1875]. Theo was learning English at this time (JLB 37, 7/6/1875].) At the least, Theo did not apparently discourage Vincent's efforts to have him transferred -- first to London, then, when it became clear that Vincent would not return there, to Paris [see Stolwijk, in Stolwijk and Thomson, p. 29].)

When Theo's lost love, Annet Haanebeek, died unexpectedly at the age of 23 (ibid.; see also Ch. 7, n. 188), Vincent could only offer one of their father's pious bromides -- "L'homme s'agite et Dieu le mène" (Man proposes and God disposes) -- and a call for emotional decorum that could have (and did) come from Dorus's mouth: "You certainly won't forget her and her death, but keep it to yourself" (JLB 35, 6/19/1875). Lies mentioned Annet’s death in a letter to Theo: “This poor Annet Haanebeek you wrote to me about, she’s still so young to have to die. Gosh, it would cost me a lot if already now I had to part from a world where there is so much to be enjoyed.” (b2332 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/26/1875). Before Annet’s death, Dorus wrote a letter to Theo noting the sadness of her illness: “How sad about Haanebeek. Give them my condolences, it’s good that Caroline [Annet’s sister] is there at the moment.” (b2334 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Willemina van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/29/1875.) However, in the first letter Dorus wrote to Theo after her death, there was no mention of Annet (b2345 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 6/28/1875).

In his next letter, written only three weeks after Annet’s death, Dorus cautioned Theo not to linger too long in mourning: “My dear Theo! Think about it, I found lately that you are less cheerful; your joyfulness is not what it used to be, am I wrong in that? Can I do something to cheer you up? Is it possible that you look too much to one side? And one more question that I pose to you in the thought that I don’t speak to a child but to a young man, to my son, who is our joy. You should ask yourself, seriously, without fear of being biased, could it be that the atmosphere at the family Haanebeek, through the particularly sad circumstances there, could it be that the atmosphere there is really too somber, too one-sided, not agreeable enough? I don’t mean too serious, for seriousness can go together with cheerfulness. Again, I question, I search, I help searching. Your mood was different in the past, I try to find out, why that change? Isn’t it so that you never are anywhere else than at that home? That leads me to ask whether the presence in one family, almost exclusively in one family, can that result in too much leaning to one side? … I would not want to stir up trouble, spread gossip, but I do think that it might be desirable, being with that family, to also seek the company of other people, even if you do not like them as much.” (b2346 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 7/8/1875.)

Context:
BVG 45, 11/15/1875: "If we conform to this advice, we will stay on the narrow road, with the help of God."
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "Let us do that, then, and with God's help we shall succeed."

163. "go to church"

BVG 33, 8/13/1875.

Context:
BVG 33, 8/13/1875: "You should go to church every Sunday if you have the time; even if the preaching is not good, it is better to go; you will not regret it."
JLB 40, 8/13/1875: "You should also go to church every Sunday if you can, even if it isn't so very beautiful; do that, you won't regret it."

164. surprising to Theo

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875: Vincent himself acknowledges as much in this letter.

Context:
JLB 46, 9/9/1875: "I'd like to suggest something to you, Theo, which will perhaps amaze you."

165. "Do not read Michelet"

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875.

Context:
BVG 36a, 9/7/1875: "Do not read Michelet any longer or any other book but the Bible till we meet again at Christmas, and do as I told you: go out in the evening often, dropping in on Van Stockum, Borchers and the like."
JLB 46, 9/9/1875: "Read no more Michelet or any other book (except the Bible) until we've seen each other again at Christmas and do what I told you, go often in the evenings to the Van Stockums, Borchers &c."

166. "I am going to destroy"

BVG 39, 9/25/1875.

Context:
JLB 50, 9/25/1875: "I'm going to get rid of all my books by Michelet &c. &c., you should too."

167. "Did you do"

BVG 42, 10/11/1875.

Context:
BVG 42, 10/11/1875: " Did you do what I advised you to do, get rid of the works of Michelet, Renan, etc.?"
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: " Have you done what I advised you to do, have you got rid of the books by Michelet, Renan &c?"

168. "I advised you"

BVG 43, 10/14/1875. Vincent emphatically repeated his advice less than a week later: “I advised you to get rid of your books, and I still advise you to do so, certainly, just do it; it will give you peace” (JLB 56, 10/14/1875). It appears that Vincent did at least follow his own advice on this score. Two years later, when his assessment of Michelet had come round again, he asked Theo to transcribe a favorite page from L'amour. "I need it but don't have the book any more," he wrote. (JLB 89, 8/26/1876). This also suggests that Vincent assumed that Theo had not followed his instructions at the time.

Context:
BVG 43, 10/14/1875: "I advised you to destroy your books, and do so now; yes, do so, it will give you rest; but take care all the same not to become narrow-minded and afraid of reading what is well written; on the contrary doing that is a comfort in life."
JLB 56, 10/14/1875: "I advised you to get rid of your books, and I still advise you to do so, certainly, just do it; it will give you peace. But while you're doing it, take care not to become narrow-minded and to shy away from reading what is well written; on the contrary, that is a comfort in our lives." (Emphasis in original.)

169. the regimen Vincent proposed

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875: Vincent’s regimen included not only staying away from stimulating books, but also filling one’s evening hours with safely unstimulating social engagements.

Context:
JLB 46, 9/9/1875: "Read no more Michelet or any other book (except the Bible) until we've seen each other again at Christmas, and do what I told you, go often in the evenings to the Van Stockums, Borchers &c. I believe you won't regret it, you'll feel much freer as soon as you've started this regimen."

170. ward off the temptations

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875: Tellingly, Vincent instructed Theo to stop reading Michelet and start reading the Bible (see Ch. 7, n. 169). Here and elsewhere, the language suggests that Vincent -- like most Victorians -- was especially concerned about the darkest, most accessible, and most irresistible of all sexual deviancies: masturbation. It is difficult (and distracting) for modern readers to grasp the opprobrium attached to this activity in Vincent's era. (See Stengers, Jean, and Anne van Neck.)

171. Bible reading

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875. (See Ch. 7, n. 169.)

172. visiting friends

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875. (See Ch. 7, n. 169.)

173. reflected his own

Wylie argues this point very nicely, noting that there are places in the letters where Vincent analyzes others’ problems and emotions and offers unnecessary advice with exaggerated intensity and manic repetition – all of which suggests that the advice tells us more about Vincent and his problems than it does about those to whom the advice is directed and their problems (Wylie, p. 25).

174. not to read

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875. Vincent put a time limit on this draconian ban – “until we’ve seen each other again at Christmas" (JLB 46, 9/9/1875). Presumably, Vincent expected that at Christmas he would give Theo lessons in how to read these books without being dangerously excited by them. It should also be noted that, less than a month after issuing this sweeping prohibition, Vincent loosened it considerably ("take care not to become narrow-minded and to shy away from reading what is well written") and cited a more open-minded Biblical verse (Philippians 4:8): "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (JLB 56, 10/14/1875).

175. "disgusting"

BVG 42, 10/11/1875. Vincent dismissed Michelet and other verboten writers with a slightly garbled version of Proverbs 25:16: "If you have found honey, mind that you do not eat too much, and become disgusted” (JLB 55, 10/11/1875: “'If you have found honey, see to it that you don't eat too much of it, lest it disagree with you.'” (The actual verse is this: "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it."). Pabst and Van Uitert suggest that even as Vincent was railing against the romantic poets and others, he was reading Longfellow and George Eliot (Pabst and Van Uitert, in Van Uitert and Hoyle, eds., p. 69). While it's certainly possible that these readings overlapped with Vincent's crusade that fall, it is more likely that, for a few months at least, he observed his own proscriptions. Soon after imposing the restrictions on Theo, he pulled back from the harshest ones (i.e., read only the Bible). (See Ch. 7, n. 174.)

Context:
BVG 42, 10/11/1875: "'If you have found honey, mind that you do not eat too much, and become disgusted,' you read in the book of Proverbs, or somewhere like that."
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "'If you have found honey, see to it that you don't eat too much of it, lest it disagree with you' it says in Proverbs, or something to that effect."

176. Heine and Uhland

BVG 49, 12/13/1875: In a particularly patronizing afterthought, Vincent allowed that Theo might be able to return to his favored authors at some point in the future: “Those books by Heine and Uhland will fall into your hands again later on, and then you'll read them with different feelings and with a calmer heart" (JLB 62, 12/13/1875). This letter reinforces the impression that Vincent was mostly concerned that these romantic authors would incite Theo to some act of sexual weakness that he would later regret. As an antidote for their "honey," Vincent recommended the sentimentalist twaddle of Erckmann-Chatrian: a recommendation that suggests, by projection, how directly Vincent's reading was connected to his emotional life. It is an indication of the volatility of the latter that, as recently as July, Vincent had asked Theo for a copy of poems by Friedrich Rückert ("I'd like to know more of them") (JLB 38, 7/15/1875); and had spoken well of Alfred de Musset's best-known lyric poem, "December Night" (JLB 39, 7/24/1875).

Context:
JLB 62, 12/13/1875: "Those books by Heine and Uhland will fall into your hands again later on, and then you'll read them with different feelings and with a calmer heart."

177. "dangerous traps"

BVG 49, 12/13/1875: Eventually, Vincent's crusade forced him to disavow even the little poetry albums that he had so laboriously and lovingly prepared the previous winter. "[G]et rid of those little books I wrote in for you," he wrote in December (JLB 62, 12/13/1875).

Context:
BVG 49, 12/13/1875: "You too, you have found the poems of Heine and Uhland are beautiful. Be on guard, old son, they are dangerous traps. The illusion is of short duration, do not abandon yourself to them."
JLB 62, 12/13/1875: "You and I both liked the poems by Heine and Uhland, but watch out, old boy, it's pretty dangerous stuff. The illusion won't last long, don't surrender to it."

178. "Be on guard

BVG 49, 12/13/1875.

Context:
BVG 49, 12/13/1875: "Be on guard, old son, they are dangerous traps. The illusion is of short duration, do not abandon yourself to them."
JLB 62, 12/13/1875: "… watch out, old boy, it's pretty dangerous stuff. The illusion won't last long, don't surrender to it."

179. "Throw [it] away"

BVG 42, 10/11/1875: Strangely, Vincent commanded Theo to throw away his Renan and Michelet books, but comforted him that he would not forget them.

Context:
BVG 42, 10/11/1875: "But throw away their works. 'If you have found honey, mind that you do not eat too much, and become disgusted', you read in the book of Proverbs, or somewhere like that."
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "… but still, get rid of them. 'If you have found honey, see to it that you don't eat too much of it, lest it disagree with you' it says in Proverbs, or something to that effect."

110

180. monastic novices

Kempis, pp. xv-xvi.

181. "the language"

Kempis, pp. xv-xvi.

182. classical wisdom

Kempis, pp. xv-xvi: For example: Aristotle, Seneca, and Horace.

183. medieval sweetness

Kempis, p. xx: "A humble peasant who serves God, is better than the proud astronomer who knows how to chart the heavens' stars but lacks all knowledge of himself."

184. perfect comfort

Kempis, pp. 151-154: Kempis's Jesus spoke to Vincent's frustration and resentment with promises of a heaven where "no one will oppose you, and no one will complain about you ... no one will hinder you, or stand in your way" (ibid., p. 154).

185. "God loves us"

Kempis, p. xvi.

186. "strangers and pilgrims"

Kempis, p. 160: Kempis is referencing 1 Peter 2:11: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ..."

187. "gladly endure"

Kempis, pp. 58-59.

188. several friends

Stolwijk, in Stolwijk and Thomson, eds., p. 29. The cause of Theo's melancholy was apparently unknown to Vincent at the time. In January, Annet Haanebeek had fallen ill (b2314 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/14/1875). Dorus referred to her affliction as "whitlow" (b2318 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 2/7/1875). By the time Vincent was informed of Annet's illness (by his father in April, not by Theo), she was near death (JLB 33, 5/8/1875). Annet died on June 14 (Stolwijk, in Stolwijk and Thomson, eds., p. 29). Vincent acknowledged her death in a letter written June 19 (JLB 35, 6/19/1875). Stolwijk and others make the point that Theo suffered the deaths of three friends that spring and fall. In addition to Annet, his friend and housemate Weehuizen died on March 4; and another housemate, Willem Laurens Kiehl, died on September 22 (Stolwijk, in Stolwijk and Thomson, eds., p. 29).

189. bedridden by an injury

b2377 V/1982, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/5/1875. In early December, Theo slipped and fell, apparently spraining his ankle. The family letters refer only generally to a "sprain," but because the accident kept Theo in bed (i.e., off his feet), it was probably an ankle or foot injury. The letters specify only that Theo did not slip on ice or snow [ibid.]; that the injury was serious enough that he consulted a doctor "straight away" [ibid.); that he was required to lie on his back [b2376 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/5/1875]); that he could not get up but only lie or sit [b2379 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/11/1875]); and that the doctors considered using a mechanical contraption to assist him in standing [ibid.]).

Vincent's restrained reaction to the dire news of Theo's injury showed the strength of his new devotion to Kempis's serene Christ. His first reflex was the old one of brotherhood: "How I'd like to be with you, Theo," he wrote upon hearing the news (JLB 60, 12/9/1875). But Kempis's more dispassionate voice prevailed in the very next letter: "All things work together for good to them that love God," he wrote (JLB 61, 12/10/1875). "It will be so for you, too" (ibid.).

190. sent his brother

According to Stolwijk, after the death of three friends (including Annet Haanebeek) between March and September of 1875, Theo "remained dejected for quite a long time" (Stolwijk, in Stolwijk and Thomson, eds., p. 29).

191. "nothing but vanity"

BVG 36a, 9/7/1875: Vincent quoted a maxim that could have come from Kempis’s Imitatio Christi: “‘La jeunesse et l'adolescence ne sont que vanité’” (Youth and adolescence are nothing but vanity) (JLB 46, 9/9/1875: “the expression 'childhood and youth are vanity' is almost completely true” [emphasis in original]). Elsewhere Vincent wrote: "You know that it is written 'The world passeth away and all its glory'" (JLB 49, 9/17/1875). Vincent also took to calling Theo "old boy" (JLB 62, 12/13/1875). (The Dutch word Vincent used was “jongen”, which literally translates to “boy” or “lad.”)

Context:
BVG 36a, 9/7/1875: "I have got a little bit further than you, and I see already that, alas, the maxim 'La jeunesse et l'adolescence ne sont que vanité' [Youth and adolescence are nothing but vanity] is nearly all true."
JLB 46, 9/9/1875: "I'm already a little bit further than you and already see, alas, that the expression 'childhood and youth are vanity' are almost completely true" (emphasis in original).

192. "too much to heart"

BVG 39a, 9/29/1875; emphasis added.

Context:
BVG 39a, 9/29/1875: "Don't take things that don't really concern you very closely too much to heart, and don't let them hit you too hard."
JLB 52, 9/29/1875: "Don't take things that don't concern you directly too much to heart, and don't let them weigh upon you too heavily" (emphasis in original).

193. stock in the things

BVG 38, 9/17/1875. "See things as they are, and, for yourself, don't think everything good" (JLB 52, 9/29/1875). "Do not think everything good, and learn to distinguish for yourself between relative good and evil" (JLB 55, 10/11/1875; emphasis in original).

Context:
JLB 49, 9/17/1875: "You know that it is written 'The world passeth away and all its glory.'"

194. "not to dream"

BVG 40, 9/30/1875.

Context:
BVG 40, 9/30/1875: "I know quite well that your life is not easy just now, boy, but stay firm and keep up your courage: it is sometimes necessary 'not to dream, not to sigh.'"
JLB 53, 9/30/1875: "I do know that things aren't easy for you at the moment, old chap, but remain steadfast and be brave; 'Not to dream, not to sigh' is also necessary sometimes."

195. "Courage, old son"

BVG 41, 10/6/1875.

Context:
BVG 41, 10/6/1875: "Courage, old son, after the rain, good weather: keep hoping for that."
JLB 54, 10/6/1875: "Keep your chin up, old boy, after rain comes sunshine, just keep hoping for that."

196. "rain and good weather alternate"

BVG 41, 10/6/1875.

Context:
BVG 41, 10/6/1875: "The rain and good weather alternate on The road that goes uphill all the way, yes to the very end, and one rests also from time to time during the journey that takes the whole day long, from morn till night."
JLB 54, 10/6/1875: "Rain and sunshine alternate on 'the road that goes uphill all the way, yes to the very end,' and from time to time one also rests on 'the journey that takes the whole day long, from morn till night.'"

197. not just to Theo

BVG 31, 7/5/1875: There is no later confirmation that Vincent actually sent the book, although he almost certainly did.

Context:
JLB 38, 7/5/1875: "When there's an opportunity I'll send you a French Bible and L'imitation de Jesus Christ."

198. to his sisters

BVG 41, 10/6/1875: In this case, Vincent actually reported having sent the book.

Context:
JLB 54, 10/6/1875: "Today I had the opportunity to send a package to Anna and Willemien. Among other things I sent her L'imitation de Jesus Christ and several books of the Bible, published separately, in the same edition as the Psalms I sent you."

199. Wil and Anna

Hulsker, "The Elusive Van Gogh," p. 247: At this time, both sisters were living in Welwyn, outside London.

200. "good letters"

b2362 V/1982, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 9/25/1875. The family letters show other similar reports: from Vincent’s parents ("such a nice and pleasant letter" [b2367 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 10/12/1875]); from his sister Elizabeth ("I know that even when we do not write each other, we think of one another" [b2368 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 10/17/1875]). Vincent's sister Lies was so impressed with her brother's new piety that she compared him to their father in "setting a good example" (b2374 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 11/30/1875).

201. Harry Gladwell

1857-1927.

202. art dealer father

Bruxner, n.p: Harry's father was Henry William Gladwell. Vincent refers to Gladwell's father as "an art dealer in London," but his primary business was as a print seller (JLB 55, 10/11/1875).

203. provincial ways

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875: Not long after meeting Gladwell, Vincent wrote of him.

Context:
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "He had never been away from home and he was tremendously boorish, especially the first few weeks he was here."

204. jug ears

JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "In spite of all that he's as lean as a pole, with two strong rows of teeth, large red lips, sparkling eyes, a couple of large, usually red, jug-ears, a shorn head (black hair) &c. &c."

205. "At first everybody laughed"

BVG 42, 10/11/1875.

Context:
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "This young person was ridiculed a lot in the beginning, even by me."

206. brought them together

The literature generally assumes that Vincent, in his missionary fervor, brought Gladwell to God. There is no evidence for this except Vincent’s generally active, dominant role in their relationship. It is equally possible that Gladwell brought with him from England a fervent religiosity. England was experiencing an evangelical revival at the time (by which Vincent himself had been affected). The Bible from which Vincent and Gladwell read belonged, in fact, to the latter. It was given to him by his grandmother on the eve of his departure for Paris (Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 68).

207. shared a boardinghouse

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875. Gladwell apparently arrived in Paris soon after Vincent, in mid June 1875 (Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 68). When Gladwell began lodging at the same Montmartre address as Vincent is unclear. Pickvance and Bailey, among others, presume that Gladwell arrived in the boarding house later than Vincent, in October, close to the time when Vincent first wrote about him to Theo: “Also living here is a young Englishman, an employee of the firm, eighteen years old, the son of an art dealer in London, who will probably enter his father's firm later on” (JLB 55, 10/11/1875) (Pickvance, p. 8 and Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 62). We can find no basis for this presumption.

Context:
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "Also living here is a young Englishman, an employee of the firm, 18 years old, the son of an art dealer in London, who will probably enter his father's firm later on."

208. "read it from one end"

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875.

Context:
BVG: 42, 10/11/1875: "We would like to read it from one end to the other."
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "We intend to read it all the way through."

209. "as many churches"

BVG 75, 10/3/1876. The only church Vincent mentions by name is "Notre-Dame" (presumably Notre Dame de Paris) (JLB 92, 10/3/1876). But there was also "a small church I used to attend sometimes" (JLB 82, 5/12/1876). This was clearly an English-language church because Vincent reports English hymns were sung (ibid.). The likeliest possibilities are St. Michael's (off the rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, near the Élysée palace); and the English Church at 35, rue Bloissy D'Anglais, near the Madeleine (Baedeker, p. 44). There were other English-language churches, mostly scattered between the Place d'Étoile and the Madeleine, an area where many Englishmen and other foreigners lived.

Context:
BVG 75, 10/3/1876: "Every Sunday last year Gladwell and I visited many friends and as many churches as possible; we went out in the morning and came home late."
JLB 92, 10/3/1876: "… I went every Sunday to as many friends and churches as we could, we left in the morning and came home late."

210. leaving early

BVG 75, 10/3/1876.

Context:
JLB 92, 10/3/1876: "Paris will also be beautiful now in the autumn, last year Gladwell and I went every Sunday to as many friends and churches as we could, we left in the morning and came home late."

211. "sighing after"

BVG 45, 11/15/1875.

Context:
BVG 45, 11/15/1875: "He sighed after them, as it is not permitted to sigh after God and heaven."
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "He yearned with a yearning that belongs to God and heaven."

111

212. withdraw from the world

Kempis, p. 160: "Withdraw from your acquaintances and close friends, and keep your mind detached from all worldly comfort. This is what the apostle Peter meant when he instructed the followers of Christ to regard themselves as strangers and pilgrims in the world."

213. "dangerous"

BVG 45, 11/15/1875.

Context:
BVG 45, 11/15/1875: "He has shown me certain things, and I on my part have drawn to his attention certain dangers that menace him."
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "I've learned from him and was able, in turn, to draw his attention to a danger that was threatening him."

214. "unwholesome"

JLB 58, 11/15/1875.

Context:
BVG 45, 11/15/1875: "He had never left the paternal home. Because of this never having left, he has a tendency toward morbid regret (however noble) of his father and his house."
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "He had never been away from home and, although he didn't let it show, he had an unwholesome (though noble) yearning for his father and his home."

215. "idolatry, not love"

BVG 45, 11/15/1875. (See Ch. 7, n. 211.)

Context:
BVG 45, 11/15/1875: "He sighed after them [his family], as it is not permitted to sigh after God and heaven. This idolatry is not love."
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "He yearned [for his family] with a yearning that belongs to God and heaven. Idolatry is not love."

216. sadness and regret

BVG 45, 11/15/1875: Bonger translates this passage in a way that seems internally inconsistent: "He who loves his parents must follow them on life's path." This bland homily is contrary to the entire sense of the paragraph, as well as Vincent's understanding at the time of the Christian disciple's obligation to part ways with his family. The main thrust of the letter, even in Bonger's translation, is that Gladwell is unnaturally close to his family ("idolatry," Vincent calls his affection for them), and that he should separate himself from them, however painful that might be. The contradiction remains unresolved in the JLB translation. ("He now sees this clearly and, with some genuine sorrow in his heart, he has the courage and the desire to go on" [ibid.]). This leads one to believe that the passage either inaccurately reflects Vincent’s position or inadvertently reveals an inner conflict over the issue.

Context:
JLB 58, 11/15/1875: "He who loves his parents must follow them on life's path. He now sees this clearly and, with some genuine sorrow in his heart, he has the courage and the desire to go on."

217. "shut the door"

Kempis, pp. 26-29: Vincent's and Gladwell's tireless companionship flagrantly violated Kempian principles: "If you abstain from unnecessary conversation and useless visiting, as well as from listening to idle news and gossip, you will find sufficient and suitable times for your meditations. The great saints avoided the company of men as much as they could, because they wanted to live for God in silence ... commune with your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Retire to your room and there you will preserve what you usually lose by leaving it ... Shut the door of your room and call Jesus, your Beloved, to you, and stay there with Him. There is no greater peace anywhere else than to be with Jesus." (Emphasis in original.)

218. a mirror of himself

Nagera, p. 29: Nagera frames the argument in the language of psychotherapy: "Vincent started to use this boy [Gladwell], expressing through him many of his own inner conflicts, to externalize them ... The externalization of his own inner conflicts is clearly shown in what follows: 'I am so glad that I met this boy. I have learned from him and in return have been able to show a danger that threatened him.'"

219. favorite poetry

BVG 55, 2/19/1876. Bailey suggests that one of the favorite choices for Vincent’s and Gladwell’s readings was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 68). This reasonable speculation appears to be based on the fact that Vincent mentions Longfellow in the same paragraph that he mentions reading poetry with Gladwell. Also, Vincent sent a book of poetry by Longfellow to Theo in March. The inference that Vincent was reading with Gladwell the same poetry that he was sending to Theo is supportive of the argument in the text.

Context:
JLB 70, 2/19/1876: "You'll find Longfellow in the next crate. Gladwell was here yesterday evening -- he comes every Friday -- and we read some more of it."

220. eating habits

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875.

Context:
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "Recently he's begun to eat with more moderation, and he's started to collect prints, with my help."

221. print collecting

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875.

Context:
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "Yesterday we went to the Luxembourg together and I showed him the paintings I like best there."

222. "the pictures that I like"

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875.

Context:
BVG: 42, 10/11/1875: "Yesterday we went to Luxembourg together, and I showed him the pictures that I like the most."
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "Yesterday we went to the Luxembourg together and I showed him the paintings I like best there."

223. attentive younger brother

With astonishing openness, Vincent confirmed that Gladwell served as a surrogate for the absent Theo. On several occasions, when reporting his warm feelings for the young Englishman, Vincent expressed his yearning to be with his brother. He wrote Theo in September, when Gladwell was joining him every morning for breakfast: "How much I’d like for us to be able to breakfast together or drink a cup of chocolate in my room" (JLB 52, 9/29/1875). And again in November: "Every morning my worthy Englishman cooks barley porridge; how I’d like you to be here in the morning sometime" (JLB 57, 11/9/1875). And again a week later: "My worthy Englishman now cooks barley porridge every morning ... How I wish you could try it sometime" (JLB 58, 11/15/1875).

224. came to Vincent's

BVG: 42, 10/11/1875. Gladwell usually woke Vincent between 5:00 and 6:00 A.M., but Vincent did not leave for the store until 8:00 A.M.

Context:
JLB 55, 10/11/1875: "In the morning, he's already there to wake me up, usually between 5 and 6 o'clock; we then have breakfast in my room and go to the gallery around 8 o'clock."

225. breakfast

BVG 44, 11/9/1875. Breakfast consisted primarily of oatmeal or porridge. In the next letter, Vincent reveals that the porridge is from a package of twenty-five pounds of the stuff that Gladwell's father sent (JLB 58, 11/15/1875). In another letter, Vincent reveals that the porridge was often accompanied by hot chocolate (JLB 52, 9/29/1875).

Context:
JLB 57, 11/9/1875: "Every morning my worthy Englishman cooks barley porridge; how I'd like you to be here in the morning sometime."

226. the little stove

BVG 46, 12/4/1875.

Context:
JLB 59, 12/4/1875: "Gladwell and I are very cosy by our little stove, mornings and evenings."

227. "our room"

BVG 52, January 1876; emphasis added.

Context:
BVG 52, January 1876: "For several days we have had a mouse in our 'cabin', which is what we call our room."
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "For a few days now we've had a mouse in our 'cabin'; that's what we call our room, you know."

228. "I should like"

BVG 111, 10/21/1877. Both of these bittersweet memories came in the fall of 1877, two years later, when Vincent was in Amsterdam studying to enter university to become a pastor (see chapter 10) and Gladwell had just returned to Paris, the site of their brief friendship.

Context:
BVG 111, 10/21/1877: "I had a short note from him after he arrived back in Paris. On a day like this I should like to walk again with him in the twilight, along the Seine, around Notre Dame."
JLB 132, 10/21/1877: "Had a short letter from him since his return to Paris, would like to walk with him again on a day like today in the twilight along the Seine by Notre-Dame."

229. "I'm longing to see "

JLB 129, 9/4/1877.

Context:
BVG 108, 9/4/1877: "I long to see the brown eyes that could sparkle so when we looked at pictures by Michel and others, and talked about 'many things.'"
JLB 129, 9/4/1877: "And I'm longing to see his brown eyes, which could sparkle so when we saw the paintings of Michel and others or talked of 'many things.'"

230. "cabin"

BVG 52, January 1876.

Context:
BVG 52, January 1876: "For several days we have had a mouse in our ' cabin,' which is what we call our room."
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "For a few days now we've had a mouse in our ' cabin,' that's what we call our room, you know."

231. "Withdraw your heart"

Kempis, p. 4.

232. enlisted art in the service

We differ from Pickvance who writes that while Vincent’s literary tastes were heavily influenced by his religious fanaticism at the time, his tastes in art, especially recent are, were not similarly influenced (Pickvance, pp. 38-39). Vincent may not have been looking (or collecting) as restrictively as he was reading, but we see a definite turn to a greater involvement with explicitly religious imagery that coincides with the growing "fanaticism" reflected in the letters from this period.

233. trip to the British Museum

BVG 110, 9/18/1877.

Context:
JLB 131, 9/18/1877: "Rembrandt knew that, for out of the rich treasure of his heart he brought forth, among other things, that drawing in sepia, charcoal, ink &c. (which is in the British Museum) depicting the house in Bethany."

234. one of Rembrandt's drawings

Bailey, Young Vincent, pp. 50-52: According to the visitors' book of the British Museum's Department of Prints and Drawings, Vincent visited on August 28, 1874. The print he saw was Rembrandt's Christ with Mary and Martha. At the time, Vincent said of it: “Out of the rich treasure of his heart, [Rembrandt] brought forth, among other things, that drawing in sepia, charcoal, ink &c. (which is in the British Museum) depicting the house in Bethany” (JLB 131, 9/18/1877). Three years later, in the throes of religious fervor, he wrote more about an image that had obviously impressed him deeply: "The figure of the Lord, noble and impressive, stands out gravely against the window through which the evening twilight falls. ... I hope not to forget that drawing, nor what it seemed to be saying to me." (JLB 131, 9/18/1877.)

235. tracked its progress

Soon after he moved into his Montmartre apartment in the summer of 1875, Vincent listed for Theo the twenty prints that he had on the wall of his little room. Of these, twelve showed evocative nature scenes while only three were explicitly religious in subject matter (JLB 37, 7/6/1875). About a month later, he sent Theo an addendum to the list. Of the five prints hung in the brief interim, three were explicitly religious (JLB 40, 8/13/1875). Also, what Vincent saw in an image could change over time. Portrait of a Lady, which Vincent believed to be by Philippe de Champagne, was included on the original list of twenty prints, but his initial romantic impression of the sitter, confirmed by Michelet, gradually yielded to a fixation on the perceived piety of the sitter, based on nothing more than a series of delusions. First, he thought he saw in the painting a copy of Imitatio Christi (there is a book in the painting, but it has no title), and then he thought he saw the daughter of the first sitter in another painting, depicting two nuns, which he also mistakenly believed to be by Philippe de Champagne (JLB 38, 7/15/1875; see De Leeuw, p. 60). The discussion in the text encompasses not just the prints hanging on Vincent’s wall (of which even his own report was probably an incomplete record), but all the images that he mentioned favorably in this period.

236. bourgeois life

BVG 239, 10/29/1882. Before leaving London, Vincent gave away many of his more secular prints to Thomas Richardson, whom Vincent described in 1882 as "the traveller for the house of G&Cie" (JLB 277, 10/29/1882). We have chosen representative images from the two artists whose prints Vincent specifically mentions having given away: Félicien Joseph Victor Rops and Charles Camille Auguste de Groux, but he says he gave these away "along with other things," too (ibid.). In another later letter, Vincent appears to provide more detail on his de-accession program at the end of his time in England (JLB 267, 9/19/1882). "I once put together a collection of woodcuts, mainly after the above artists, which I gave away to a friend in England when I left Goupil." Presumably, this is the same gift. “The above artists" include Benjamin Vautier (the Elder), Ludwig Knaus, Gustave Adolphe Jundt, Georg Eduard Otto Saa, (Jacques) Alfred van Muyden, and Gustave Brion -- mostly successful German (Alsatian) and Swiss illustrators. Later, when Vincent's taste for secular fare returned, he regretted these gifts.

Context:
JLB 277, 10/29/1882: "I'm terribly sorry that I no longer have the Degroux and Rops. I gave them away in England, along with other things, to Richardson, the traveller for the house of G&Cie."

237. Bible readings

BVG 30, 7/6/1875: In a list of prints that he hung on the wall of his room in Montmartre, Vincent includes Rembrandt's Reading the Bible. He described the image, which would remain a favorite for the rest of his life, in the most touching terms.

Context:
JLB 37, 7/6/1875: "Rembrandt Reading the Bible (a large, old Dutch room, (in the evening, a candle on the table) in which a young mother sits beside her child's cradle reading the Bible; an old woman listens, it's something that recalls: Verily I say unto you, 'for where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them', it's an old copper engraving, as large as 'The bush', superb)."

238. christenings

BVG 30, 7/6/1875: Vincent lists only "Maris ... A baptism." This is probably Matthijs Maris's Christening Procession at Lausanne (1873). (See De Leeuw, Sillevis, and Dumas, p. 217.) See also JLB who say this was "Probably a print after Matthijs Maris, Baptismal procession in Lausanne, c. 1860-1862 (The Hague, Gemeentemuseum). This large watercolour had won a medal at the exhibition of Belgian watercolourists held in 1863 in Brussels" (JLB 37, 7/6/1875; n. 15).

Context:
JLB 37, 7/6/1875: "ditto [Maris]: A baptism."

239. pious heroes

BVG 29, 6/29/1875: An Old Huguenot by Albert Anker. In October 1875, Vincent listed the pictures that he liked best at the Luxembourg. Among them was Gustave Brion's The Pilgrims of St. Odille, and Noah (JLB 55, 10/11/1875).

Context:
JLB 36, 6/29/1875: "Anker's painting of 'An old Huguenot', a photo of which is in the package in question, I sold to Uncle Vincent, who was here a couple of days ago."

240. religious ceremonies

BVG 30, 7/6/1875: Jacobus van der Maaten's Burial in a Cornfield (1862). This is the same image that hung on the wall of Vincent's father's study in the Zundert parsonage. Also, Matthijs Maris's Christening Procession at Lausanne (c. 1860-1862) (see Ch. 7, n. 238). In October 1875, Vincent listed the pictures that he liked best at the Luxembourg. Among them was Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton's The Blessing of the Corn in Artois (JLB 55, 10/11/1875).

Context:
JLB 37, 7/6/1875: "Van der Maaten: Funeral in the cornfield."

241. serene sunrises

BVG 33, 8/13/1875. According to JLB, the image Vincent mentioned could be either Oxen on Their Way to Plough (Morning Effect), painted by Constant Troyon in 1835; or Morning, illustration in Les Artistes Anciens et Modernes, by Louis-François Français after Troyon. (See JLB 40, 8/13/1875; n. 19 and JLB 37, 7/6/1875; n. 12.)

Context:
JLB 40, 8/13/1875: "Have I sent you a lithograph of Troyon, Morning effect?"

242. glimmering twilights

BVG 22, 2/1/1875: In early 1875, Vincent listed the pictures that he liked best at the Luxembourg. Among them was “an autumn evening, by Titian." (an image that JLB have not been able to identify [ibid., n. 15]), and Flat Landscape with Clouds by Rubens.

Context:
JLB 29, 1/4/1875 and 3/5/1875: "5 large figures at twilight, you can imagine the sentiment. ... an autumn evening, by Titian."

243. Georges Michel

A French landscapist and curator of Dutch painting at the Louvre whose long life (1763-1843) connected three great epochs of art (The Golden Age, the Barbizon, and the Impressionists), Michel became a subject of discourse between the Van Gogh brothers that summer, after Vincent moved to Paris. Vincent reported purchasing a copy of a book of etchings by Michel, which he then gave to Theo with instructions to lend it to their Uncle Cor. "I see the paintings themselves," Vincent wrote, "so naturally you can have the description and etchings after them" (JLB 44, 9/4/1875).

Context:
JLB 44, 9/4/1875: "I've bought a book about Michel, with etchings after his paintings; I'll send it to you as soon as I've finished it. Michel, though, isn't nearly so beautiful as that landscape described in that passage in Adam Bede, which we both found so moving."

244. nature and religion

BVG 58, 3/28/1876: Vincent compared Michel's moody skyscapes to Rembrandt's religious images.

Context:
JLB 73, 3/28/1876: "Yesterday I saw around 6 paintings by Michel, how I wish you'd been there, sunken roads through sandy soil leading to a mill, or a man going home over the heath or sandy ground with a grey sky above, so simple and so fine. It seems to me that the pilgrims on their way to Emmaus saw nature as Michel does, I always think of them whenever I see one of his paintings."

112

245. The Garden of Olives

BVG 27, 5/31/1875: Camille Corot died on February 22, 1875. Vincent saw the memorial show in May in Paris. His description of Corot’s Garden of Olives melded nature and religion in a way that would later find full expression in his own paintings in Arles and St. Rémy: "On the right, a group of olive trees, dark against the darkening blue sky; in the background hills covered with shrubs and a couple of tall trees, above them the evening star" (JLB 34, 5/31/1875). A few months after seeing this exhibition, Vincent made an excursion to Ville d'Avray (where Corot often went [JLB 144, 5/19/1878]) and saw a group of Corots in a church there, one of which was Christ on the Mount of Olives (JLB 40, 8/13/1875; see n. 5; JLB 144, 5/19/1878). In October 1875, Vincent listed the pictures that he liked best at the Luxembourg. Among them was Ernest Hébert's Christ in the Garden of Olives (JLB 55, 10/11/1875; see n. 17).

Context:
JLB 34, 5/31/1875: "Yesterday I saw the Corot exhibition. It included a painting of the 'Mount of Olives,' I'm glad he painted that."

246. Descent from the Cross

BVG 22, 2/1/1875. JLB have identified this work as Lamentation, a painting that is now attributed to “School of Rembrandt” (JLB 29, 1/4/1875 and 3/5/1875; n. 10).

Context:
JLB 29, 1/4/1875 and 3/5/1875: "There's a beautiful exhibition of old art here, including a large Descent from the Cross by Rembrandt, 5 large figures at twilight, you can imagine the sentiment."

247. Supper at Emmaus

BVG 27, 5/31/1875. The painting that Vincent referred to as “the small Rembrandt … ‘Supper at Emmaus’” is actually titled The Pilgrims at Emmaus and it dates from 1648 (JLB 34, 5/31/1875; n. 5). A few months later, Vincent reported to Theo excitedly that Goupil would publish an engraving of the Rembrandt painting the following autumn.

Context:
JLB 34, 5/31/1875: "I wish you could see the small Rembrandts there, the 'Supper at Emmaus', and two pendants, 'The philosophers.'"

248. sent two engravings

BVG 34, 8/1/1875. The religious prints were gifts from both Vincent and Theo, but Vincent advocated giving these particular images. He bought them, packed them in an intra-Goupil crate, and then sent Theo instructions to frame them, to pay for the framing and send them on to their parents in Helvoirt (ibid.) The reaction at home was characteristic: "Yesterday evening the chest arrived with those very beautiful prints. But dear boy [i.e., Theo] what a beautiful and much too expensive present." (b2361 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 9/14/1875.)

Context:
JLB 41, 8/16/1875-9/1/1875: "Herewith a note for Mr. Tersteeg, asking him if he would frame 2 engravings, 'Good Friday' and 'St Augustine', which you'll find in the next crate. And will you please be so kind as to send them to Helvoirt around 10 Sept. I'd really like them to be from both of us, so that you pay 2.50 guilders towards the frames."

249. a nativity scene

BVG 33, 8/13/1875: The Nativity by Nicholas Maes.

Context:
JLB 40, 8/13/1875: "N. Maes The Nativity."

250. picture of a monk

BVG 33, 8/13/1875: Johannes Bosboom's (1817-1891; Dutch artist) Cantabimus and Psallemus depicting a monk playing an organ. A few months later, Vincent singled out another painting of monks as among his favorites in the Luxembourg (JLB 55, 10/11/1875).

Context:
JLB 40, 8/13/1875: "Bosboom Cantabimus and psallemus."

251. The Imitation of Jesus Christ

BVG 33, 8/13/1875: The Imitation of Jesus Christ by Luis Ruipérez.

Context:
JLB 40, 8/13/1875: "Ruipérez The imitation of Jesus Christ."

252. wave of enthusiasm

BVG 32, 7/24/1875: Two months after Vincent's transfer, a picture of a view of London by Giuseppe de Nittis, an Italian artist, arrived in the Paris store. The painting was Victoria Embankment in London (1875) (JLB 39, 7/24/1875; n. 1). Although the image brought a wave of nostalgia, Vincent concluded: "I believe it's good for me to be away from [London]" (JLB 39, 7/24/1875). A few months later, he closed a letter to Theo with the line, "I have to go and polish my boots for tomorrow," suggesting, if not enthusiasm, at least a good faith effort to please his superiors and family(JLB RM21, September or October 1875).

Context:
JLB 39, 7/24/1875: "You are eating well, aren't you? Be sure and eat as much bread as you like. Good-night, I have to go and polish my boots for tomorrow."

253. learned in June

BVG 29, 6/29/1875: The realization that his transfer to Paris was not "temporary" apparently dawned on Vincent slowly. As of June 19, he did not know when he might return to London, but assumed that he would, and planned to stop in Helvoirt on the way. Some clarity had been brought to the situation by the time of the next letter ten days later. "I'm staying here [in Paris] for the time being,” he wrote, “and will probably not go to Holland before the autumn" (JLB 36, 6/29/1875). This suggests either (1) his temporary transfer had been officially extended to at least September (see, e.g., Bailey, Young Vincent, pp. 57-58); or (2) he had been told that his assignment to Paris was permanent; or (3) he had heard nothing official about his return. In any case, he wanted to represent to Theo that it was still an open issue. The fact that Vincent never again addressed the issue would seem to support the second interpretation. As of early September, sister Lies, at least, still thought of Vincent's return to London as a possibility. "Do you think that Vincent will stay in Paris for the time being,” she asked Theo, “or do you reckon he will go back to London?" (b2358 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 9/5/1875).

Context:
JLB 36, 6/29/1875: "I'm staying here for the time being, and will probably not go to Holland before the autumn."

254. more ill-suited

Sund, quoting Williard L. Sperry, p. 23: As Sund reports, Kempis's Imitatio was derided by some at the time as a "manual of sacred selfishness."

255. merchant sons in training

Two prominent examples among Vincent's co-workers in Paris were Elbert Jan van Wisselingh and Frans Braat. Wisselingh, the son of Henry Wisselingh, the London dealer who ran a French gallery, left Goupil-Paris in 1875 to work for Daniel Cottier, the Scottish dealer based in London (Bailey, Young Vincent, pp. 90-91). Braat's father owned a bookshop in Dordrecht where Vincent was employed in late 1876 (ibid., pp. 104-105). (See Chapter 9.)

256. "Do not flatter"

Kempis, p. 11.

257. "I know nothing"

JLB 38, 7/15/1875. Out of family duty, Cent and his wife saw a great deal of their errant nephew Vincent in the fall of 1875, as Vincent reports in July (JLB 38, 7/15/1875) and again in November (JLB 57, 11/9/1875). Anna confirms this in a letter from November: "Vincent visited them quite a bit" (b2370 V/1982, "Gogh, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 11/3/1875). November 6 was Cent and Cornelia's silver wedding anniversary. In August, apparently, Vincent was invited to dine with aunt and uncle and a Belgian painter, Eduoard Hamman (1819-1888) (JLB 41, 8/16/1875-9/1/1875). (Vincent does not say that Cent or Cornelia invited him to this dinner, but there could be no other plausible reason for Vincent to be dining with this fifty-five-year-old École des Beaux-Arts painter who specialized in scenes from the lives of famous personages. Vincent would have found it interesting, no doubt, that Hamman illustrated the books of Hendrik Conscience, a favorite of Vincent's.) Throughout this autumn of social encounters, apparently, Vincent pestered his aunt and uncle about his new ardor for religion in general and Kempis in particular. "Uncle Vincent was here [in the store]," Vincent wrote in July (JLB 38, 7/15/1875). "[W]e were together quite a lot and talked about one thing and another." This "one thing and another" appears to have focused on two subjects: Theo's transfer and religion.

Vincent's description of Cent's response to the first suggests both Vincent's offensive strategy and Cent's defensive strategy: "I asked him whether he thought there would be an opportunity to get you here, into the Paris branch. At first he wouldn't hear of it, and said it was much better that you stay in The Hague; but I kept insisting, and you can be sure that he'll bear it in mind." (ibid.) Vincent probably sensed that his uncle was just putting him off, so he encouraged Theo to take up the fight: "Don't hesitate to ask him openly to have you sent here or to London" (ibid.). Evidence of the second subject is more indirect but more extensive. In addition to the reference to "supernatural things" (JLB 38, 7/15/1875), Vincent quotes a long philosophical rumination from Cent: "'Rejoice, young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement. Remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity." (JLB 41, 8/16/1875-9/1/1875.) These plain words of Dutch wisdom stand in stark (and probably intended) contrast to Vincent's evangelical exhortations. In fact, the last line of the passage directly contradicts Vincent's Kempian advice to Theo (in French): "childhood and youth are vanity'" (JLB 46, 9/9/1875; see Ch. 7, n. 191).

Another sign that Vincent and Cent debated to a quick stand-off on religious issues is Vincent's frustrated judgment that Cent was an example of Sainte-Beuve's statement that "there is in most men a poet who died young, whom the man survived" (JLB 38, 7/15/1875). For their part, Cent and Cornelia apparently avoided any comment about Vincent in their letters to his parents during this period. Only two weeks after writing Theo in November that Vincent visited his aunt and uncle "quite a bit," (b2370 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 11/3/1875) Anna wrote again: "Vincent often was with Uncle Cent and Aunt Cornelie, nice that Christmas will be here soon" (b2373 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 11/17/1875). If Cent and Cornelia had said anything positive about Vincent, Anna would surely have relayed it to Theo, as she always did, by way of encouragement. It is possible that they said something negative which Anna did not reveal, but their silence alone was an eloquent assertion of disapproval.

Context:
JLB 38, 7/15/1875: "He's terribly clever, when I was here last winter one of the things he said to me was 'perhaps I know nothing of supernatural things, but of natural things I know everything'. I'm not sure whether those were his exact words, but that was the gist of it."

258. job in the salesroom

Inexplicably, Vincent had been assigned to the Paris store's public gallery, not to the stockroom as he had been in London.

259. "entertaining visitors"

BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883.

Context:
BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883: "I should not have minded staying with Goupil if my work had been other than entertaining visitors."
JLB 377, 8/20/1883: "I would have liked to stay with the firm if I'd been given a position that consisted less exclusively of talking to the customers."

260. stood out even more

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 10.

261. "ce Hollandais rustre"

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 10: According to Lies, Vincent's "personal peculiarities ... were particularly disturbing to the Parisians -- especially to ladies, who, being convinced of their own knowledge of art, did not care to be corrected by this ' rustre Hollandais,' as they termed him."

262. stiffened with disdain

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 10. (See Ch. 7, n. 261.)

263. "stupidity"

Coquiot, p. 34.

264. "exasperated"

Coquiot, p. 34.

265. one account

Coquiot, p. 34: According to Coquiot, who based his account on interviews with contemporary witnesses: "The customers could not take [Vincent] any longer. Those who came in the gallery were not "art lovers," but amateurs, who revealed their ignorance in the prints they chose. And the opinions they gave were worthy of these images. All this stupidity was starting to exasperate Vincent."

266. "C'est la mode"

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 9: This is from Vincent's sister Lies's account, which means that it is probably the version of Vincent's behavior that she heard from her parents at the time: "[Vincent] also noticed that praise was not always given where, according to his knowledge, praise seemed due. It astonished, troubled, and angered him. ' Que voulez-vous? C'est la mode' was the answer given him as he hesitatingly told his opinion to a fellow-assistant." Lies continues in the same high dudgeon, defending as outraged principle Vincent's sedition of personal opinion in what was, after all, a salesroom: "It was Fashion, then, that dictated the laws in the Realm of Beauty -- Fashion, which he scorned -- Fashion put her stamp of 'to be or not to be' on the works of an artist and determined the fate of those who belonged to him. She it was who gathered unto herself these treasures or threw them aside with scorn, and banished the creator to a poverty which could cripple his ability forever. And he should become her slave and kneel at her feet to pay her homage, -- he who had never felt any need for society, who was a stranger to her laws and her convention! He should help to throw sand into the eyes of the public, spoil good taste knowingly, and in this way help to destroy what was truly fine -- that would, indeed, suit him!"

267. astonishment and anger

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 9. (See Ch. 7, n. 266.)

268. "dared to question their taste"

Hartrick, p. 40: According to Hartrick: "[Vincent] was moved by his relatives to the Paris house of Goupil. From there he was dismissed because he could not handle customers with tact, but insisted on imposing his own opinions on them, to their disgust and rage. Parisian ladies complained of the manners of ' ce Hollandais rustre', who dared to question their taste." This is from the account of A.S. Hartrick, who knew Vincent in Paris ten years later. There are two ways to read it: one is that this was Vincent's version of his behavior as a salesperson at Goupil as told to Hartrick a decade after the fact; the other is that this is Hartrick's imagining what the vehemently opinionated Vincent he knew in Paris would have been like as a sales person (aided, obviously, by sister Lies's memoir [see Ch. 7, n. 261], which was based on both family hearsay [see Ch. 7, n. 266] and knowledgeable inference).

269. disciplinary action

BVG 50, 1/10/1876: After Vincent was dismissed in January, he admitted to Theo: "I've certainly done things that were in some way very wrong." Years later, he recalled of his last months at Goupil: "after however working there for 6 years we were absolutely dissatisfied on both sides with everything, them with me, me with them" (JLB 721, 11/19/1888).

Context:
JLB 65, 1/10/1876: "I haven't written to you since we saw each other; in the meantime something has happened that didn't come as a total surprise to me. When I saw Mr. Boussod again I asked if His Hon. indeed thought it a good thing for me to go on working in the firm this year, since His Hon. had never had any very serious complaints against me. The latter was indeed the case, though, and His Hon. took the words out of my mouth, so to speak, saying that I would leave on 1 April, thanking the gentlemen for anything I might have learned in their firm.

270. "bad example"

BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883. Years later, Vincent reported that his boss had told him, "You are an honest and hard-working employee but you set a bad example to the others" (JLB 377, 8/20/1883). Given Vincent's admission of previous run-ins with his superiors over his behavior -- prior to his dismissal -- we take this as an indication of the nature of those run-ins.

Context:
BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883: "But they did not ask me anything, but just said, 'Vous êtes un employé honnête et actif, mais vous donnez un exemple mauvais pour les [sic] autres.' [You are an honest and active employee, but you set a bad example to the others.]"
JLB 377, 8/20/1883: "They didn't ask me anything, though, just told me, 'You are an honest and hard-working employee but you set a bad example to the others', and I said nothing to refute that because I didn't want to influence whether or not I would stay."

271. "simple and humble"

Kempis, pp. 161-164.

113

272. idiosyncratic directions

An example of Vincent rejecting opportunities to follow more conventional artistic tastes is his neglect of Eduoard Hamman (1819-1888; Belgian artist), a Cent favorite who specialized in popular celebrity portraits. Cent apparently arranged for Vincent to have dinner with Hamman, but, whether he did so for artistic or social reasons, Vincent never followed up on the introduction (JLB 41, 8/16/1875-9/1/1875; see Ch. 7, n. 257).

273. former Communard

De Leeuw, Sillevis, and Dumas, p. 60: Maris had fought alongside the Communards in the last spasm of the Revolution (only five years before Vincent's arrival), but the distinctions of affiliation were lost on his appalled relatives and associates.

274. in Montmartre

De Leeuw, Sillevis, and Dumas, pp. 223-224. Vincent's address in Montmartre is not known. No place in Montmartre is much more than a kilometer (less than a mile) away from any other place in Montmartre.

275. worked for Goupil

Sillevis, in Van der Mast and Dumas, eds., p. 148.

276. "potboilers"

Sillevis, in Van der Mast and Dumas, eds., p. 148.

277. an exile and recluse

Meyers, p. 189: According to Meyers, Maris was "an odd person, and like so many other odd persons, he was vulnerable. Jan Veth called him a 'gentle satyr' and a 'grey turning, sick dwarf.'" Vincent later compared Maris (and himself) to Quasimodo, Hugo's hunchback in Notre-Dame de Paris (JLB 318, 2/20/1883 or 2/21/1883).

278. championed

Vincent may have inherited this mantle from (or at least been re-introduced to Maris by) his co-worker Wisselingh, who supported the artist financially during the early 1870s by occasionally buying a painting. Wisselingh moved to London in 1875 (De Leeuw, p. 217).

279. "genius"

BVG 24, 4/6/1875.

Context:
BVG 24, 4/6/1875: "The subject is almost the same as that of the big J. Maris, "Amsterdam," which you probably know; but this is talent and the other, genius."
JLB 31, 4/6/1875: "The subject is nearly the same as the large J. Maris, Amsterdam, which you perhaps know, only this is talent and the other is genius."

280. "[He] is so taken"

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876. We are indebted to Leo Jansen for assistance with the translation.

281. never reported visiting

Bailey maintains that "Vincent got to know [Maris] well" while the two were living in Paris (Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 69). Meyers maintains that Vincent "asked [Maris] to be his mentor" (Meyers, p. 190). Without direct evidence, of which we can find none, these claims are difficult to support. Given Vincent’s lifelong fascination with Maris and his art, and given his penchant for overstatement, there is no reason not to credit Vincent’s modest 1883 summary of his contacts with Maris: "I did talk to Thijs Maris occasionally" (JLB 394, 10/12/1883). The indirect evidence for greater familiarity is the elaborate poetry album that Vincent gave Maris, probably in 1876. Whether this album was prepared from scratch for Maris or just given to him in a burst of solidarity is unknown. Our understanding of the motivation behind the gift of the album is laid out in the text. We do not credit the story in Fridlander's biography of Maris (quoted in Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 70-71 and used as the basis of Meyers's account) that Vincent asked Maris's advice about whether or not he should become an artist in early 1876.

We suspect this was Fridlander's attempt (common to biographers of artists from the era) to tie his subject to Vincent’s star. As of early 1876, the idea of becoming an artist was nowhere in Vincent’s mind, as far as we can tell. Nevertheless, the response attributed to Maris is memorably blunt and gives a good idea of the artist's irreverent and irascible character: "It is better to hang yourself than to become a painter" (quoted in Meyers, p. 190). It is significant that Maris's own account of his interaction with Vincent is far less cozy than Fridlander's. In 1909, he wrote that he had never opened the album that Vincent gave to him (Pabst, ed., p. 39). His judgment of Vincent’s art was equally unsparing: "... if this is meant to be done from nature, then I prefer a photograph a 100 times better ..." (ibid.). Pabst does an admirable job of detailing Vincent’s contrastingly high opinion of Maris and his art.

282. misanthropic

Pabst, ed., p. 39: Later (in 1909), Maris referred to the period of his life when he and Vincent both lived in Montmartre as "a time when I had to do my utmost to murder every good idea that a person could call his own, ideals, money! and to make a little money, legally!" (ibid., quoting Maris).

283. first entry

Pabst, ed., p. 38: According to Pabst, several leaves are missing from the front of the album. Also, it is not clear whether this entry was written first or added at some later point. It is the only entry in the album where the lines are written vertically on the page.

284. "When you are"

See Pabst, p. 40.

285. his uncle's profession

Some years later, speaking of his dismissal from Goupil, Vincent wrote: "If the firm had been for me then what art is for me now, I would have acted more decisively then. But in fact I was unsure then about whether it was my career or not ..." (JLB 377, 8/20/1883.)

286. "seeking to get"

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 11.

287. "simply legitimate stealing"

Du Quesne-van Gogh, p. 11: Vincent's new criticism of art dealing, as recalled by Lies, echoes Kempis's rejection of self-interest and condemnation of those who "seek to possess things that are rare and beautiful" (Kempis, pp. 161-164). Kempis juxtaposes the inclinations of "Nature" (temporal, seductive, evil) and the inclinations of "Grace" (spiritual, rewarding, good): "Nature operates only for its own interest and weighs what gain it can acquire from others. Grace, on the other hand, seeks not what is useful and advantageous to itself but what is profitable to many." (ibid.)

288. "Everything, everything"

BVG W04, 6/22/1888. We have altered the translation slightly in the text.

Context:
BVG W0, 6/22/1888: "The exhibitions, the picture stores, everything, everything, are in the clutches of fellows who intercept all the money."
JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888: "The exhibitions, the shops for paintings, everything, everything is occupied by people who all intercept money."

289. took up again

BVG 46, 12/4/1875.

Context:
JLB 59, 12/4/1875: "I've taken up pipe-smoking again, and sometimes it tastes just as good as it used to."

290. "blues"

BVG 5, 3/17/1873.

Context:
BVG 5, 3/17/1873: "Theo, I strongly advise you to smoke a pipe; it is a remedy for the blues, which I happen to have had now and then lately."
JLB 5, 3/17/1873: "Theo, I must again recommend that you start smoking a pipe. It does you a lot of good when you're out of spirits, as I quite often am nowadays."

291. wandered

BVG 73, 8/18/1876. A year later, when Vincent compared his job teaching school with his time in Paris, the primary contrast was that his new job allowed far less walking. "When I think of my life of struggle in Paris last year and now here, where sometimes I can't leave the house for a whole day, or at least no further than the garden, then I sometimes think, when will I return to that world? If I do return to it, though, it will probably be some other kind of work than I did last year. But I think that I prefer doing biblical history with the boys to walking; one feels more or less safe doing the former." (JLB 88, 8/18/1876.)

292. lingering over cemeteries

BVG 76, 10/7/1876. Sometime in the autumn of 1875, Thomas Richardson, an acquaintance of Vincent's from London came to Paris (Vincent called him "Mr. Richardson," suggesting that they were not close). Instead of taking him to the Louvre or another gallery or museum, Vincent reported, "we walked together to Père Lachaise," Paris's most famous cemetery. There, apparently, Vincent gave Richardson a long and lachrymose tour. Some years later, Vincent recalled this trip to Père Lachaise: "I've seen the graves of men for whom I have indescribable respect" (JLB 388, 9/21/1883). Oddly, Vincent recounted making a special effort to visit the tombstone of the mistress of the French poet Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780-1857; French writer) ("if I remember rightly it's in a little corner behind his") (ibid.). Given that he wrote this account at a time when he was desperately trying to legitimize his relationship with the prostitute Sien Hoornik, it is possible (probable, in fact) that Vincent manufactured the memory, in whole or in part.

Context:
JLB 93, 10/7/1876-10/8/1876: "Last year at this time Mr Richardson was in Paris, and we walked together to Père Lachaise."

293. "that other world"

BVG 73, 8/18/1876. Vincent wrote this a year later, looking back on his time in Paris.

Context:
BVG 73, 8/18/1876: "When I think of my life full of struggle in Paris last year and compare it with this, where I sometimes do not get out-of-doors the whole day -- at least not farther than the garden -- I sometimes wonder; When shall I come back to that other world?"
JLB 88, 8/18/1876: "When I think of my life of struggle in Paris last year and now here, where sometimes I can't leave the house for a whole day, or at least no further than the garden, then I sometimes think, when will I return to that world?"

294. spurned familial duties

BVG 44, 11/9/1875: Cent and his wife left Paris on November 8 after celebrating their silver wedding anniversary on November 6. In the Van Gogh family, this kind of dereliction was an offense for which there was virtually no good excuse.

Context:
JLB 57, 11/9/1875: "I'm sorry I didn't see them at the train yesterday when they left. Herewith a letter, give it to Uncle when you see him, it explains why we didn't see each other at the station."

295. defying the strict dress code

Vincent later corrected Theo's recollection that Vincent had been dismissed from Goupil because of his shabby attire: "when I left Goupil there were motives other than clothes, on my side at any rate" (JLB 377, 8/20/1883). The clear implication of this statement is that shabby attire was one of the motives for Vincent's dismissal. This may have been part of what Vincent's boss was referring to when he said, at the time of Vincent's dismissal, that Vincent "set a bad example to the others."

296. "does not avoid"

Kempis, pp. 161-164.

297. blaze of anticipation

b2380 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/13/1875: Lies's letter provides an articulate, contemporaneous expression of this fervor: "Oh! You do not know how much I am looking forward to the holidays. Time does not pass quickly enough for me. I am longing so much to see everybody. How lovely it is to have a home to which you can look forward like this."

298. accepted a new position

b2351 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 7/30/1875: The decision to move from Helvoirt to Etten came at the end of July 1875, five months before Christmas. "Yesterday I again went to Etten with Ma, to investigate some more and now we have decided to go there, tomorrow in any case I will send my decision to Etten."

299. double homecoming

Kools, p. 130: Kools's discussion of the significance of the proximity of Zundert is illuminating. He also cites a letter Vincent wrote to his aunts in Zundert in anticipation of Christmas the next year, 1876: "I wrote and told them that, if possible, you and I would walk to Zundert sometime at Christmas. ... Oh that Zundert, the thought of it's almost too much at times." (JLB 92, 10/3/1876.)

300. laying holiday plans

b2358 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 9/5/1875: In early September, Lies reported on Vincent's early planning, which had to have been done weeks before: "Pa wrote me that maybe Vincent will be coming for Christmas."

114

301. "How I am longing for Christmas"

BVG 39, 9/25/1875. Apparently, Vincent was already thinking about Christmas even earlier, in August. On September 5, Lies reported to Theo: "Pa wrote me that maybe Vincent will be coming for Christmas" (b2358 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 9/5/1875). This suggests that Vincent had written his parents already about his holiday plans. In the months leading up to the holiday, a series of tribulations -- the move to Etten, Wil's departure for England, the death of two Carbentus uncles, Theo's injury -- only intensified his yearning for the family that he hadn't seen in almost a year. "I already long for the holidays," Lies wrote Theo in September (b2364 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 9/26/1875). "Still twelve weeks to come! Now, it has been one year since I last saw Vincent."

Vincent felt a similar anticipation. When he heard that his Uncle Jan Carbentus had died, he wrote: "Such things," he wrote when his Uncle Jan Carbentus died, "make us say, 'O Lord, join us intimately to one another and let our love for Thee make that bond ever stronger'" (JLB 42, 9/2/1875). So keen was his longing that when his parents sent him a pair of gloves as a present, he "went to sleep with them" -- not because he was cold, but because he was so "touched" by the gift (b2375 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/4/1875).

Context:
BVG 39, 9/25/1875: "How I am longing for Christmas, but let us have patience, it will come soon enough."
JLB 50, 9/25/1875: "How I'm longing for Christmas, but let's be patient, that time will come soon enough."

302. "I shall want"

BVG 39, 9/25/1875.

Context:
BVG 39, 9/25/1875: "As soon as possible I will send the money for the frames. When I write to Mr. Tersteeg, I will tell him that for the moment I am rather short of cash; I asked our cashier to hold back every month a part of my salary as I shall want a lot of money around Christmas for my journey, etc., however I hope to send it before long."
JLB 50, 9/25/1875: "I'll send the money for the frames as soon as possible; when I write to Mr. Tersteeg I'll tell him that I don't have much money at the moment, because I've asked our cashier to keep back part of my monthly wages as I'll be needing a good deal of money around Christmas for my trip &c."

303. rush of letters

Vincent wrote Theo on December 4 (JLB 59, 12/4/1875), December 9 (JLB 60, 12/9/1875), December 10 (JLB 61, 12/10/1875), and December 13 (JLB 62, 12/13/1875). In addition, we know of at least two letters that he wrote Lies during this period (b2380 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/13/1875).

304. shifting plans

By December 4, Vincent had written his parents that he had "permission to come [to Etten] starting the day before Christmas" (b2375 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/4/1875). On December 9, he wrote that he would leave for Etten "in a fortnight" (i.e., on December 23) (JLB 61, 12/10/1875). On December 10, he wrote again that he hoped to be in Etten "in a fortnight" (i.e., on December 24) (JLB 61, 12/10/1875). On December 13, he wrote that he would be leaving Paris "Thursday week, in the evening" (i.e., on December 23) (JLB 62, 12/13/1875). By the next day, the target date had moved up a little: "Vincent hopes to come Thursday [December 23] or Friday [December 24]," his parents wrote Theo (b2379 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/11/1875). But those ambitious plans had obviously been abandoned by the time Dorus wrote, on December 22, that Vincent would arrive Friday (December 24) at 9:16 [A.M.] (b2382 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/22/1875).

305. painting arrived

BVG 48, 12/10/1875: The painting was Émile Adélard Breton's Sunday Morning in Winter. It is not clear from Vincent's description if he is referring to a painting or a print.

Context:
JLB 61, 12/10/1875: "We have 'Sunday morning' by Emile Breton here at present. You know it, don't you? It's a village street with farmhouses and sheds, and at the end the church surrounded by poplars. Everything covered with snow and little black figures going to church. It tells us that winter is cold but that there are warm human hearts."

306. "It tells us"

BVG 48, 12/10/1875.

Context:
JLB 61, 12/10/1875: "It tells us that winter is cold but that there are warm human hearts."

307. 23-Dec

b2382 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/22/1875: On December 22, Dorus wrote that he expected Vincent on "Friday [the 24th] at 9:16 [A.M.]." Vincent wrote later that he arrived in the morning for Christmas (JLB 73, 3/28/1876), thus pointing to a departure on the overnight train leaving Paris at 8:30 p.m. on the 23rd.

308. they agree

Van Gogh, Maria Johanna, p. 9: To further complicate the chronology of these events, Aunt Mietje appears to maintain that Vincent heard about being dismissed from Goupil while he was staying in Etten over the Christmas holiday (presumably by mail): "In January, Vincent (Theo[dorus]'s son), who is staying in Etten, receives word that he is no longer employed in the house of Goupil in Paris." Because Aunt Mietje's dating is inexact and her syntax is casual (and/or untranslatable), we have discounted this aspect of her version of events. In this case, her account appears also to be contradictory: the first two days of January 1876 were a Saturday and Sunday; and Vincent left for Paris on Monday.

309. saw the ax coming

BVG 563, 11/23/1888. In addition to the evidence cited in the text, there is also this passage from a later letter in which Vincent encouraged Theo (more rhetorically than sincerely) to make a clean break with him if their relationship proved an embarrassment or impediment to Theo’s work at Goupil. Vincent did this by contrasting a clean break with the more typical Goupil tactic of stringing a person along indefinitely: "Theo; for you it's easier to be rid of me altogether. For my part, if I break off our relationship, particularly in the financial sense, I will consequently have absolutely nothing else, and that's the opposite of the usual tactics of Messrs van Gogh & Co." (JLB 436, 3/10/1884.)

Context:
JLB 721, 11/19/1888: "As for you, you're with the Goupils, but I certainly am not, after however working there for 6 years we were absolutely dissatisfied on both sides with everything, them with me, me with them. It's an old story, but all the same that's how it is."

310. "not entirely unforeseen"

BVG 50, 1/10/1876.

Context:
BVG 50, 1/10/1876: "Meanwhile something happened to me that was not entirely unforeseen."
JLB 65, 1/10/1876: "I haven't written to you since we saw each other; in the meantime something has happened that didn't come as a total surprise to me."

311. "done things"

BVG 50, 1/10/1876.

Context:
BVG 50, 1/10/1876: "I have probably done things that in a certain sense have been very wrong, this is why I have never made a big thing to answer back."
JLB 65, 1/10/1876: "I've certainly done things that were in some way very wrong, and so have little to say."

312. at the last minute

BVG 49, 12/13/1875. On December 4, Dorus wrote Theo that Vincent "has permission to come here from the day before Christmas ..." (b2375 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/4/1875). We assume Vincent's holiday leave was canceled at the last minute because he was making plans and reassuring his family of his imminent arrival up through his last letter on December 13 (JLB 62, 12/13/1875). "I'm longing for Christmas and to see you, old boy, but now we'll be there soon enough. I'll probably be leaving here Thursday week, in the evening." However, the shifting nature of his plans (he gives several different dates for his departure), suggests that the firmness of the trip may have been entirely in his head, not the subject of an agreement with his bosses.

Context:
JLB 62, 12/13/1875: "I'm longing for Christmas and to see you, old boy, but now we'll be there soon enough. I'll probably be leaving here Thursday week, in the evening."

313. not an unusual occurrence

b2666 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 10/4/1873: "Mr. Tersteeg [wrote] that you cannot get any leave this Christmas, so make sure to visit us early."

314. the store's busiest season

Bonger-Van Gogh, in Van Gogh, Vincent, pp. xxv-xxvi.

315. defied his bosses

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: In a report to Theo, Dorus used the expression "dug his heels in" to refer to Vincent’s defiant behavior. But the characterization appears to have come from Vincent, as Dorus was reporting Vincent’s account: "We remain terribly worried about the situation with Vincent. On the 4th of this month he wrote that during the New Year's visit of Mr. Boussod he had a very unpleasant meeting with him. Among other things, his return home at the year's end was taken very badly, he should not have done that but it seems he dug his heels in." Hulsker argues that Vincent "did have Mr. Boussod's consent [for his Christmas leave], but he had more or less forced that consent with his persistence" (Hulsker, Vincent and Theo, p. 26; emphasis added). Although this sounds consistent with Vincent’s character, we find it to be a distinction without a difference. At what point does a coerced approval become a disapproval? Much more likely, in our view, is that Vincent simply left -- just as he often walked out on landlords and creditors holding his debt. He may have later claimed a misunderstanding -- also a characteristic tactic -- when confronted with his wrongdoing.

316. "flew into a rage"

BVG 332, 10/12/1883.

Context:
JLB 394, 10/12/1883: "I lost my temper and walked straight out."

317. "heart-to-heart talk"

b2385 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/31/1875.

318. "He is definitely not happy"

b2385 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/31/1875; emphasis in original. How much of this sugarcoated account belongs to Vincent (claiming victimhood) and how much to Dorus (preparing Theo for the worst, without providing guilty details) is unknowable. Because Dorus eventually came clean with the truth (to Theo) about Vincent's unauthorized leave (at the same time he presumably learned of it in early January), we have assumed that Vincent was the ultimate author of this account.

319. Dorus reported

b2226 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/9/1876": Dorus gave a similar account to Vincent’s sister Lies, who reported it in turn to Theo: "Vincent spoke with Pa about his job and it looks as if he no longer has any ambition about it and wants to do something else. Pa writes: 'I fear it won't work out in Paris, in the first few months it might go on like it is, but what will happen then?'"

320. I believe he is not

b2385 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/31/1875: Dorus's initial advice to Vincent (as reported to Theo) seems oddly out-of-step: "I almost think that I must advise Vincent to give notice in two or three months (this is in confidence). Don't think I am acting hastily. I have observed the signs of the times! But these are still only discussions, not decisions." (ibid.) This is undoubtedly because Vincent misrepresented the situation to his father, emphasizing his own unhappiness at Goupil rather than his poor performance there, or the virtually inevitable dismissal that he faced upon his return to Paris. Vincent had clearly made it sound as if his fate was still uncertain -- and in his own hands. He told the same misleading story to Uncle Cor when he visited him in Amsterdam, which elicited the different -- but equally impossible -- advice that he should stay at Goupil.

321. left Breda for Paris

(b2224 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/3/1876: According to his father, Vincent left at 8:30 A.M. on the morning of Monday, January 3. This could refer either to the time he left the parsonage in Etten or to the departure time of the train from the station in Breda.

322. told his parents

b2224 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/3/1876. Dorus was clearly unaware of the seriousness of the immediate situation, as well as in deep denial about the longer-term implications: "May we be happy and may Vincent be lucky. He had the best intentions" (ibid.). Vincent was clinging to what he clearly feared might be his last pleasant days at home (which, as it turned out, they were): “[Vincent and I] had such a nice walk together on Sunday with the beautiful weather,” Dorus reported. He has so much that is good he was so pleasant with us, and read to us and enjoyed being at home” (ibid.). But worry was never far from Dorus's mind: "We hope for the best, but are not without worry,” (ibid.). All of these passages are from the same letter, which was written the day of Vincent’s departure.

323. "[Vincent] was of the opinion"

b2224 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/3/1876: In the letter he wrote immediately after Vincent left, Dorus made clear that he was not reassured by Vincent’s reassurances: "You can imagine we are anxious,” he wrote. “There was always something strange in the house.” He worried that Vincent would be “lonesome in such a big city,” but still prayed that “God may guide him.” “We are sad after the departure,” he concluded, “but let us keep courage and faith."

324. "I am looking forward"

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876: Anna wrote to Theo: “You must also be thinking a lot about Vincent, he left courageously, and said the previous day: I am looking forward to my work.”

325. Léon Boussod

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876. According to Rewald, Vincent was given notice by "Étienne Boussod" (Rewald, Studies in Post-Impressionism, p. 9). But this must be a mistake. Rewald’s description of Boussod as one of the men who "had succeeded Goupil" clearly points to Léon, not his son Étienne, who did not join the firm until 1886 and was only eighteen at the time of Vincent’s dismissal.

326. "very unpleasant"

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: In January, Dorus reported to Theo: “On the 4th of this month, [Vincent] wrote that during the New Year's visit of Mr. Boussod he had a very unpleasant meeting with him.” This description could only have come from Vincent. Vincent apparently suggested to his father that the encounter with Boussod happened by chance: that it occurred "during the New Year's visit of Mr. Boussod." We believe this was part of his effort to disguise the truth about his termnination. However, probably in the same communication, Vincent had told him that his employers were not happy about the time he took off for Christmas. Dorus’s report continues: “[Vincent’s] return home at the year's end was taken very badly, he should not have done that but it seems he dug his heels in. After that meeting he was of the opinion that no other course of action remained for him than to say he wants to leave on April 1.” Note how this telling preserves the appearance of Vincent’s agency -- his control of the situation -- and makes the already-decided departure sound still contingent. Bailey hypothesizes that, by this point, Vincent had told his father that he had been called into the boss’s office (Bailey, Young Vincent, p. 66). But such a disclosure would have undermined Vincent’s story that he was the active agent in his departure from Goupil -- a fiction that he would continue to maintain to his father and to his brother for the rest of his life. Tellingly, Vincent does not appear to have explained to his father why the subject of his job performance and resignation came up at a routine New Year's well-wishing visit.

327. unauthorized leave

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: In Dorus’s report, there was this opaque passage: "Among others, [Vincent’s] return home at the year's end was taken very badly, he should not have done that." The important phrase is the opening one: "among others." This was clearly Dorus’s (and probably Vincent’s) oblique reference to the existence of other complaints about Vincent’s job performance.

328. silence

Kempis, pp. 36-39: Silence was the appropriate Kempian response: "The man who habitually exercises patience goes through a wholesome purgatory while still alive. He suffers injuries at the hands of others, but he is more concerned about their malice than his hurt. He willingly prays for those who harm him, wholeheartedly forgives offenses committed against him, and never puts off asking another's pardon."

329. "I never made"

BVG 50, 1/10/1876.

Context:
BVG 50, 1/10/1876: "I have probably done things that in a certain sense have been very wrong, this is why I have never made a big thing to answer back."
JLB 65, 1/10/1876: "I've certainly done things that were in some way very wrong, and so have little to say."

115

330. had no choice

See Ch. 7, n. 329.

331. "Vincent received word"

Van Gogh, Maria Johanna, p. 9: The entries in the Van Gogh family chronicle are arranged by year and (usually) by month. For clarity, we have converted the passage to the past tense from the present tense conventionally employed: "In January, Vincent (Theo[dorus]'s son), who is staying in Etten, receives word that he is no longer employed in the house of Goupil in Paris."

332. finally admitted

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876. (See Ch. 7, n. 326.) Just how much of his miscreance Vincent confessed in his report to his father is unclear. He certainly did not give Dorus any details that would have undermined the credibility of his claim that he could remain at Goupil if he so chose. "Among others, his return home at the year's end was taken very badly, he should not have done that ..." (ibid.).

333. dignified resignation

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: Dorus reported to Theo: "After that meeting [with Boussod] … Vincent was of the opinion that no other course of action remained for him than to say he wants to leave on April 1." Hulsker appears to consider the question of whether Vincent was dismissed or resigned as still an open issue (Hulsker, Vincent and Theo, p. 27). In our opinion, this is just a continuation of the rear-guard action against reality that Vincent fought his whole life (see Ch. 7, n. 326).

334. "ripe apple"

BVG 50, 1/10/1876.

Context:
BVG 50, 1/10/1876: "When the apple is ripe, a soft breeze will make it fall from the tree, and such was the case here."
JLB 65, 1/10/1876: "When an apple is ripe, all it takes is a gentle breeze to make it fall from the tree, it's also like that here."

335. "passivity"

BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883. Vincent admitted his passivity, but not the reason for it: i.e., his poor work record. Indeed, his account is a classic example of Vincent using an opaque construction to conceal an unflattering truth: “When I saw Mr. Boussod again I asked if His Hon. indeed thought it a good thing for me to go on working in the firm this year, since His Hon. had never had any very serious complaints against me. The latter was indeed the case, though" (JLB 65, 1/10/1876). Indeed, it was not the case that Vincent had “never had any very serious complaints against [him].” This account seems designed to support the flase rationale that Vincent had given his father for leaving Goupil: because he was unhappy there, not because he had failed to perform adequately.

Context:
BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883: "I was in doubt whether it was my career or not, and I was more passive."
JLB 377, 8/20/1883: "I was unsure then about whether it was my career or not, and I was more passive."

336. "I could have said"

BVG 315, 8/20/1883-8/21/1883.

Context:
JLB 377, 8/20/1883: "I could have said a great deal to refute that, though, if I had wanted, and indeed things that I believe would have ensured that I could stay." (See Ch. 7, n. 337.)

337. "What a mess"

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876.

338. "It is so"

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876.

339. "bitter disappointment"

b0955 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/31/1876: “Let us not complain, and not worry more than absolutely necessary, as bitter as the disappointment may be … Truly we somewhat resemble a bird that has been shot in the wing.”

340. "indescribable sorrow"

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876. (See Ch. 7, n. 337.)

341. "a cross put upon us"

b2228 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/16/1876. In another letter, Vincent's parents compared their plight to that of "a bird that has been shot in the wing" (b0955 V/1962, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 3/31/1876). (See Ch. 7, n. 337.)

342. not reach Etten

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: "We are glad we live somewhat in seclusion here without wanting to lock ourselves up." (See Ch. 7, n. 337.)

343. lack of ambition

b2226 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/9/1876. Lies reported to Theo the reaction in the Etten parsonage: "Vincent spoke with Pa about his job and it looks as if he no longer has any ambition about it ... Pa says he is impeccably good, but that he does not have the ability to take charge of himself quickly and independently and to take his chances." Note how this preserves Vincent’s cover-story that Goupil just wasn’t the right place for him. The fact that he had been terminated for cause remained unknown, hidden, or denied. The same comforting falsehood still prevailed in the family discourse a few months later when Dorus expressed to Theo his exasperation with Vincent’s lack of ambition as if that had been the only cause of his termination: "If only some life and energy would get into him" (b0955 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/31/1876). The level of Dorus's frustration was even clearer in another letter he wrote to Theo in March: "One becomes a person by meeting people ... When traveling you must also behave as if you were an experienced traveler, and not be introverted ... Not all conversations are unpleasant. It also teaches flexibility and ease. Vincent should have learned that, never mind how solid and good he is." (b0954 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876; emphasis added.)

344. "take charge of himself"

b2226 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/9/1876. (See Ch. 7, n. 343.)

345. "sick outlook"

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876: Trying to focus on something positive, Vincent’s parents compared his sad state to that of his favored brother: "We are so glad and thankful that you find satisfaction in your work,” they wrote Theo. “If only V[incent] had that as well! His outlook on life has an aspect that is a bit sick."

346. brother Johannus

b2359 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 9/9/1875. Anna's lament at her brother’s death in September 1875 hints at the thoughts that were going through her mind as she contemplated Vincent’s departure from Goupil – a kind of death – a few months later: "Oh, [Jan] deserved so much pity. In his younger years he did not follow the common road in life, and later wound up in circumstances from which neither he himself nor others with the highest love could save him. How sad was his end ... Not to withdraw oneself from the normal life is a lesson that old and young can learn from his unhappy history." The nature of Jan's misdeeds (and another ominous parallel with Vincent in Anna's mind) is suggested by Stolwijk:"[Jan] had also opted for a woman of lower rank" (Stolwijk, "'Our Crown and Our Honour and Our Joy' Theo van Gogh's Early Years," pp. 51-52). This appears to be confirmed in a letter that Dorus wrote to Theo in May 1877, when Theo, too, became involved with a woman of lower class: "Jan Carbentus said himself: 'I have become unhappy by such a meeting on the street'" (b2532 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 5/21/1877).

347. "Such a pity"

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876.

348. "will find his"

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876: In agreeing with a point Theo had made, Dorus paraphrased it: "You are quite correct saying that he will find his troubles wherever he goes." Anna, obviously, was struck by the same passage in Theo's letter: "How sad what you wrote, everywhere he will find difficulties and unpleasantness, experience will teach him that, poor fellow" (b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876).

349. "[Vincent] was"

Van Gogh, Maria Johanna, p. 9.

350. and no doubt others

BVG 50, 1/10/1876: First and foremost among the “others” who were urged to stay silent: Vincent himself. Surely it is not a coincidence that Vincent’s instructions to Theo exactly echo his parents' instructions: "Be so good as to let Mr. Tersteeg read this letter [Vincent had included a letter for his old boss] … [but] speak to no one else of it" (JLB 65, 1/10/1876; emphasis added). Dorus's instructions were more circumspect than Vincent’s, but added up to the same proscription: "Without talking about this unnecessarily we do not make a secret of it anymore when appropriate that Vincent wants to change jobs" (b2228 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/16/1876).

351. not to talk about

b2228 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/16/1876. Vincent’s parents made an exception to the rule of silence for Tersteeg, as they wanted Theo to remain on good terms with his boss in The Hague and they knew, no doubt, that Tersteeg would find out about the events in Paris through Goupil channels: "We should want you to speak with Mr. Tersteeg about it. You know that he knows about it and he knows that you know about it, he deserves our trust" (b2227 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/12/1876).

352. "act as if nothing"

BVG 50, 1/10/1876: Vincent's instructions echo his father's instructions to him. (See Ch. 7, n. 350.)

Context:
BVG 50, 1/10/1876: "Oblige me by showing this to Mr. Tersteeg, His Excellence may know what has happened, but I believe that it is better if you do not tell it to anyone else; and to act as if nothing has happened."
JLB 65, 1/10/1876: "Be so good as to let Mr. Tersteeg read this letter, His Hon. may know it, but I believe it's better that you speak to no one else of it for the time being, and behave as if nothing is going on."

353. "Vincent wants"

b2228 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/16/1876. (See Ch. 7, n. 350.)

354. asked his brother Cor

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: Anna reports that Vincent sent a letter to his Uncle Cor, but it is unthinkable that Dorus did not prepare the way with his brother and encourage Vincent to write a letter.

116

355. be avoided

It is clear that Vincent's parents were as concerned or more concerned with the appearance of Vincent's dismissal than with the effects on Vincent. "It's not just the worry of what will happen to him that makes us so afraid and sad, but the manner in which he must leave" (b2227 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/12/1876). This could, of course, be read sympathetically to show that they are concerned about the effects of the dismissal on Vincent's reputation, not just the family's.

356. "gentlemen"

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876.

357. to go back to Boussod

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: "I advised him today that he should apologize to Mr. Boussod regretting this error ..." Dorus even coached his obdurate son on his confession: "[You] should not have left [your] work at the end of the year ... There must be discipline in a business ... The wish of the superior must for every employee be the law ... [you] should have set an example for others." Dorus's coaching quickly escalated to scolding as the seriousness of the crisis sank in: "I just wrote him again ... without blaming him, but with more emphasis on opening his eyes to his own shortcomings. Will it help?" (ibid.; emphasis added.) Boussod listened to Vincent's apology and, according to Dorus, "didn't take it badly" (b2228 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/16/1876). Perhaps to help effect a reconciliation, Dorus invited Tersteeg to Etten. According to a letter from Anna, Tersteeg had come and gone by February 5. (b2231 V/1982, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 2/5/1876). On February 7, Vincent wrote Theo: "I heard from home that Mr. Tersteeg had been in Etten" (JLB 69, 2/7/1876). Neither correspondent states that Tersteeg was invited for the purpose suggested in the text, but both no doubt understood it. "He knows a lot about Vincent," Anna explained hopefully (ibid.).

358. Uncle Cor expressed

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: "Uncle Cor to whom Vincent also wrote a letter, responded with a lot of sympathy but could not shed any light on it, certainly not on his business [predicament]." It seems likely that Anna was struggling to say that Uncle Cor did not have any general advice to give Vincent and would not hire him into his own business.

359. "Great disappointment"

Van Gogh, Maria Johanna, p. 9.

360. "Blessed are those"

b2233 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 2/9/1876: Anna reported: "Pa immediately made plans for the Sunday sermon: Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted."

361. Cent's favor

As recently as the previous fall, Uncle Cent had been in Etten overseeing (and probably financing) repairs on the new parsonage. (b2361 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 9/14/1875.) Anna and her children often enjoyed the privileges of Cent's glorious house and garden in nearby Prinsenhage (Dirven, p. 24). Over the Christmas holidays, Cent had put his carriage ("that little bus") and driver ("Janus") at the disposal of his brother’s family (b2375 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/4/1875). Because of Vincent’s disgrace, these and a lifetime of other favors must have seemed in jeopardy.

362. maintain his own good relations

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876.

363. especially with Tersteeg

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: "[Tersteeg] deserves our trust." (See Ch. 7, n. 351.)

364. "Remember that Vincent neglected"

b2233 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 2/9/1876.

365. "Let us all be independent"

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876.

366. moved quickly to dispel it

There are other examples of Vincent’s parents discouraging Theo’s sympathy for his brother: "We are glad you get satisfaction from your work. Vincent did not think so when he was with [Goupil] … How sad what you wrote, everywhere he will find difficulties and unpleasantness ... We long for a letter from him; can you believe that he lets us wait so long ..." (b2227 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/12/1876).

367. "nevermind"

b0954 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876. This is how Dorus concludes a long peroration on Vincent’s shortcomings in business (and, implicitly, in life) that seems designed to counter an argument in Vincent’s defense from Theo: “When traveling you must also behave as if you were an experienced traveler, and not be introverted. That way one sees what goes on in the world. And the people who talk are not always wise people, except in case they know how to conduct a conversation by carrying it off. But enough. Not all conversations are unpleasant. It also teaches flexibility and ease. Vincent should have learned that, nevermind how solid and good he is.”

368. "your sad Pa and Ma"

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876.

369. "a calamity"

BVG 343, 12/1/1883: Vincent's syntax and punctuation here are frustratingly obscure. The tone is clear enough, however.

Context:
BVG 343, 12/1/1883: "At the time what I thought was, Calamity, burst out for Heaven's sake! And so on."
JLB 408, 12/1/1883: "At the time I thought, for God's sake, calamity -- do your worst!"

370. "the ground gave way"

BVG 332, 10/12/1883.

Context:
BVG 332, 10/12/1883: "This was the ground which gave way under my feet; think how miserable anyone would be if such a ground gave way."
JLB 394, 10/12/1883: "Here is the ground that sank beneath my feet -- here is the ground which, if it sinks, must make a person miserable, whoever he may be."

371. "everything that I"

BVG 80, 11/10/1876. Because Vincent often cloaked confessions like this one in the guise of neutral observations, we have slightly altered in the text the wording of the translation: “Everyone, rich or poor, strong or weak, has moments in which he can go no further and when ‘all those things seem against us,’ when many things that we have built up tumble down.” This is one of several semantic strategies Vincent used to distance himself from painful self-perceptions.

Context:
BVG 80, 11/10/1876: "Today, one of the servants left; these women hardly have an easy life here, and she couldn't stand it any longer; everyone, rich or poor, strong or weak, has moments in which he can go no further and when "all those things seem against us," when many things that we have built up tumble down."
JLB 97, 11/10/1876: "Today one of the maids left, they don't have it easy here and she couldn't stand it any longer -- indeed, everyone, richer or poorer, stronger or weaker, has moments when he can go no further, when 'all these things seem to be against us', when much of what we have built collapses."

372. polite replies

Vincent wrote and received replies from Uncle Cor (see b2234 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 2/17/1876); from his boss in London, Carl Obach (see JLB 68, 2/2/1876), and from his cousin by marriage, Anton Mauve (see JLB 71, 3/15/1876). He also wrote Tersteeg (see JLB 65, 1/10/1876) but never received a reply—or at least never mentioned receiving one. Vincent’s mother reported that "he also receives expressions of concern from his acquaintances," apparently referring to letters from George Read and Harry Gladwell's father, both in London (see b0951 V/1962, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 3/6/1876).

373. no reply at all

BVG 53, 2/2/1876.

Context:
JLB 68, 2/2/1876: "I still haven't had a reply to various letters I wrote in response to advertisements. Nor did Uncle Vincent answer me."

374. wrote so sparingly

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876. On the day of the crisis (January 4), Dorus had written Theo and instructed him "do not write Vincent about it for the time being" (b2225 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/4/1876). Contrary to the spirit of this instruction, if not the letter, Theo did continue to write Vincent during his last three months in Paris, although only about one letter per month -- a stark contrast to the blistering frequency of their correspondence in early December, as Christmas approached. Theo also apparently contravened his father's instruction not to comment on Vincent’s dismissal from Goupil -- although, in retrospect, Vincent did not consider his comments sufficiently sympathetic or consoling. Six years later, after Theo had begun experiencing his own difficulties at Goupil, Vincent ruefully compared his sympathetic view of Theo's problems then to Theo's cold reaction to Vincent’s earlier problems in January 1876: "Now in hindsight I think, I say, that you took a different view of that moment when I said to the [Goupil] gentlemen ‘if you force me to go, I won’t refuse to go …'" (JLB 408, 12/1/1883; emphasis in original).

375. "I long to hear"

BVG 52, January 1876.

Context:
BVG 52, January 1876: "Thanks for your letter, write to me often, for I long to hear from you in these days. Write me at length, speak to me of your daily life, you see that I am doing the same. "
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "Thanks for your letter, write to me often, as I long for it these days. Write in more detail, too, and about everyday things; you see that I, too, am doing that more and more."

376. other routes

BVG 55, 2/7/1876: Vincent was hearing news of Theo from home and through Goupil.

Context:
JLB 70, 2/19/1876: "I hear from home that you're also thinking of stopping in Etten in the course of your trip."

377. new promotion

Stolwijk, "An Art Dealer in the Making," p. 25: Theo was made manager of the print department in The Hague.

378. sales trip

BVG 55, 2/7/1876: Vincent sent his wan congratulations in this letter. (See also Stolwijk, "An Art Dealer in the Making," p. 25.)

Context:
JLB 70, 2/19/1876: "I heard from home that you'll be making the trip with the nouveautés in the spring, you'll surely have nothing against that, it's good experience and you'll see lots of beautiful things during your trip."

379. volley of praise

b2375 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 12/4/1875: This is typical: "It pleased us so much to hear from Uncle Cent that you did so well at that sale! That is very good!"

380. substantial salary increase

b2225 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/4/1876: Theo received an additional fifteen guilders per year, bringing his salary to fifty-three guilders annually (he started at thirty and was raised soon thereafter to thirty-eight) (b2226 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/9/1876). The raise allowed him to send money home to defray his sister Wil's school expenses (b2225 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 1/4/1876).

381. returned forty florins

b2228 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/16/1876. Dorus reported that he sent Vincent money "so he would not be without money if something happened." By "something," Dorus must have been referring to the possibility that Vincent might be released from his position at Goupil sooner than the arranged April 1 termination date, thus losing his income.

382. end of January

BVG 52, January, 1876. We are assuming the rough accuracy of Vincent's statement in January.

Context:
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "I'm awfully sorry [Gladwell] is going. It will be soon now, probably at the end of this month."

383. paranoia

BVG 52, January, 1876: Given Vincent’s later propensity to paranoia, we detect a low level of the affliction in his description of the reason for Gladwell's departure from their shared building.

Context:
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "One of the employees at the printer's has persuaded him to come and live with him; he had already tried to do this before."

384. conspiracy against him

See Ch. 7, n. 383.

117

385. "We feel lonely"

BVG 52, January, 1876: In late January 1876, before Gladwell actually moved out, Vincent wrote: “We sometimes feel rather lonely and long for friends, and think we’d be quite different and happier if only we found ‘it’, a friend of whom we would say, ‘this is it.’” (JLB 67, 1/24/1876.) The fact that Vincent was complaining either before or at the time of the move not only suggests anticipatory loneliness, but also may indicate that the young Englishman withdrew emotionally from the relationship before he withdrew physically. Gladwell did, however, continue to see Vincent, and the two appear to have separated amicably, at least on Vincent's side (not that Vincent would report anything different to Theo). Perhaps defensively, Vincent's admission of loneliness is followed by this Kempian retraction: "But you, too, will already have started to notice that there's a lot of self-deception behind this, and that this longing [for friendship], if we were to surrender to it too much, would cause us to stray from the path." (ibid.) However, we credit Vincent's mother's much deeper understanding of her son and of the impact Gladwell's departure would have on Vincent’s emotional state: "How he shall be lonely now. He will study one thing or another, but won't see or speak to anyone, and then an uncertain future." (b2231 V/1982, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 2/5/1876.)

Context:
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "We sometimes feel rather lonely and long for friends, and think we'd be quite different and happier if only we found 'it', a friend of whom we would say, 'this is it.'"

386. troubled young Dutchman

BVG 130, 6/1/1879: Upon Soek's death in 1879, Vincent said of him: "poor chap, life wasn't easy for him, but rather quite a struggle."

Context:
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "What affected me deeply was hearing that Frans Soek died, I'd like to hear some particulars in the matter from you, if you happen to know anything, poor chap, life wasn't easy for him, but rather quite a struggle."

387. Frans Soek

Interestingly, Vincent did not name the fellow employee at this time. He wrote only that he was "reading aloud to a Dutchman, one of the employees I’ve been seeing a lot lately" (JLB 69, 2/7/1876). Later the same year, however, he named "Soek" as a former friend in Paris (JLB 88, 8/18/1876). Two years later, he asked Theo to give his "kindest regards to Soek and his family" (JLB 145, 7/22/1878). And the next year, he was "affected deeply by hearing that Frans Soek died" (JLB 152, 6/19/1879). Vincent’s epitaph on Soek is the key to our identification: "poor chap, life wasn’t easy for him, but rather quite a struggle" (ibid.). Vincent could only have gotten to know Soek as well as this epitaph suggests during the time he spent in Paris in 1875 and 1876. During that period, all of Vincent’s free time was taken up by his co-discipleship with Gladwell, prior to the latter's move to a different boarding house in January 1876.

388. read to him

BVG 54, 2/7/1876. Vincent wrote to thank him for sending “the little book by Andersen … It's for reading aloud to a Dutchman” (JLB 68, 2/2/1876). The "little book" was Stories of the Moon a key book in Vincent's youth and imagination (ibid.).

Context:
JLB 69, 2/7/1876: "Thanks for the little book by Andersen, I'm glad to have it. It's for reading aloud to a Dutchman, one of the employees I've been seeing a lot of lately."

389. "two sympathetic souls"

BVG 279, 4/11/1883. Vincent later said of Soek's wife and mother-in-law: "[They] remind me of the members of my own household -- so much so indeed that instinctively I often think of them as members of the same family" (JLB 336, 4/11/1883). By “my own household,” Vincent was referring not to his family in Holland, but to his prostitute common-law wife, Sien Hoornik, and her mother, both of whom lived with him in The Hague between 1882 and 1885 (see chapter 17).

Context:
BVG 279, 4/11/1883: "I remember Soek's wife and her mother [acquaintances of Vincent and Theo in Paris, with whom Theo's patient went to live] quite well (if she still lives with her), and used to visit their house; and I think them two sympathetic persons who remind me of those of my own household, so much so that I often think of them as if they were of the same family."
JLB 336, 4/11/1883: "I too know Soek's wife and her mother (if she still lives with her) -- went there in the past -- they're still very clear in my memory -- and find them two sympathetic people -- who remind me of the members of my own household -- so much so indeed that instinctively I often think of them as members of the same family."

390. invited him to stay

b2234 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 2/17/1876: At least they extended an invitation through Theo: "Of course he can always find his home with us."

391. "firmly resolved"

b0951 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/6/1876: Vincent’s mother Anna wrote Theo in March: "[Vincent] receives expressions of concern from his acquaintances. Mr. Reid from London invited him to stay with him, and the father of Gladwell, with whom he lived in Paris, offered him a room in his house. He also expects to get things settled, albeit temporarily, in London. It is his firm resolve to go there." This is, apparently, what Vincent told his parents. Given how his subsequent sojourn to England worked out, however (see chapter 8), there is every reason to doubt the existence of these "expressions of concern" and offers of accommodations from "acquaintances" in London.

392. strained finances

With the move to Etten, Dorus's annual salary went from "about 820 guilders" (Van Gogh-Bonger, p. xxvi) to 1,035 guilders (Meyers, p. 60). After accepting the better-paying position, Dorus felt momentarily flush. "Don't be thrifty," he wrote Theo in September 1875 with uncharacteristic incaution about buying a coat. "I can afford that now!" (b2363 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 9/25/1875). But by the end of the year he was again complaining openly about financial problems. Lies reported to Theo: "This morning I got a letter from home, in which Pa wrote that it is so difficult to get along financially" (b2226 V/1982, ''Gogh, Elisabeth van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/9/1876). Around New Year’s Day, 1876, just before Vincent lost his position at Goupil, Dorus sent a similar cautionary note to Theo: "There may come a time that Pa and Ma may not be able to do for the next ones what we did for the previous ones. Keep helping us, by helping yourself!" (b2385 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/31/1875.) This reveals Dorus's greatest concern: that he would not be able to pay for his children's education, especially Lies's private schooling in Tiel and Cor's tutor (b2230 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876).

393. could think of nothing

b2227 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/12/1876: Dorus complained both about Vincent's aimlessness ("It is not clear to me that he wants do to something else in particular") and about his enervation ("If only some life and energy would get into him") (b0955 V/1962, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 3/31/1876). Vincent admitted the former to Theo: "And now, old boy, so far I'm really rather in the dark about what I should do" (JLB 65, 1/10/1876).

394. "uprooting"

BVG 332, 10/12/1883.

Context:
BVG 332, 10/12/1883: "You may go to England, you may go to America -- it does not matter, you will be like an uprooted tree everywhere G. & Co., where you had been rooted since your earliest years, G. & Co., though indirectly they brought you to grief, because as a boy you thought them the finest, the best, the biggest in the world …"
JLB 394, 10/12/1883: "See, now that's what you increasingly become: someone without a situation. Go to England, go to America, it doesn't help at all, you're an uprooted tree everywhere. G&Cie, where your roots are from an early age -- G&Cie, although indirectly they cause you this misery because in your youth you regarded them as the finest, the best, the biggest in the world …"

395. deeply mortified

BVG 332, 10/12/1883: Vincent's humiliation was compounded by the manner of his dismissal. His dread of job-hunting was no doubt intensified by his emotional fragility and defensiveness.

Context:
JLB 394, 10/12/1883: "I had put down roots in G&Cie and I thought that, although I left, I could look back on 6 years of good work, and that if I presented myself somewhere I could refer to my past with equanimity. But by no means."

396. "One is simply someone"

BVG 332, 10/12/1883.

Context:
BVG 332, 10/12/1883: "It is a name like X & Co., without any meaning, so one is simply "someone out of work."
JLB 394, 10/12/1883: "It's a name like X&Co., without meaning -- and so one is simply 'a person without a situation.'"

397. take up accounting

b0954 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876: Dorus wrote to Theo: "I did notice that one time [Vincent] learned accounting." We are assuming that by this time he had stopped dropping similar hints directly to Vincent.

398. indisputable strength

b2234 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 2/17/1876: Dorus wrote to Theo with a rare (and prescient) positive suggestion instead of a criticism: "I would wish so for him that he already had the security of a job. He would be good at an art museum, where knowledge and study would be required."

399. "love for his profession"

b0955 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/31/1876. (See Ch. 7, n. 400.)

400. set up as an art dealer

b0955 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/31/1876: Dorus reported to Theo about a conversation with Vincent (or perhaps a letter) about his future: "I pointed out to him the opportunity to start for himself if necessary if he still had the love for his profession. Uncle Cent also started with a very small business and he came this far. And the same for Uncle Cor."

401. no interest in art

We can find neither direct nor indirect evidence of, and do not credit, Bonger's report that Theo "had already at that time suggested Vincent's becoming a painter" (Van Gogh-Bonger, p. xxvi). Nor do we credit the speculation that Vincent sought the advice of Matthijs Maris about becoming an artist at this time (see, e.g., Bailey, Young Vincent, pp. 70-71). (See Ch. 7, n. 281.)

402. weekly poetry readings

BVG 55, 2/19/1876.

Context:
JLB 70, 2/19/1876: "Gladwell was here yesterday evening -- he comes every Friday -- and we read some more of it."

403. "an inclination"

b2223 V/1982, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876. Anna, who was more typically negative about Vincent’s future at this time, tried to find something positive to say: "[Vincent] says that the teaching profession does seem somewhat attractive to him" (b2230 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876). But Dorus was unimpressed. "Not that the future looks any brighter" (ibid.).

404. "the enthusiasm would follow"

b2223 V/1982, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876.

405. Felix Holt

BVG 51, January 1876.

Context:
JLB 66, 1/17/1876: "First of all, one for you containing 'Felix Holt', when you've read it please send it to Etten, and when they've finished it there please send it back here, when you get the chance, because it doesn't belong to me" (emphasis in original).

406. imagined doing the same

Sund, p. 25: "[Vincent] seems to have felt an even stronger kinship with Eliot's hero [Felix Holt], whom he took as a kind of role model."

407. no more consideration

b2230 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876: Vincent's parents may, in fact, have inadvertently influenced this capricious decision by bragging about the tutor they had hired for their eight-year-old son Cor. "I very much liked the young man," Dorus wrote Theo, "and would count myself lucky if Vincent also would have that ability and talent." The young man, whose name is not recorded, taught the children of "Reverend Kam," in nearby de Leur. He would later play a minor role in Vincent's life. He came once a week, for one hour, and cost either 1.40 or 1.50 florins per lesson including travel (Anna reported the lower fee [b2223 V/1982, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876]; Dorus, the higher [b2230 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 1/29/1876]). Both agreed this was expensive.

408. English papers

BVG 52, January 1876.

Context:
JLB 67, 1/24/1876: "I read the advertisements in the English newspapers and have already written to a couple, we're hoping for a godsend."

409. "It will take"

b2233 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 2/9/1876.

410. inquiries were rejected

In early February, Vincent received a response to one of his letters of inquiry: "Today I received a letter in reply to one of mine; they asked whether I could teach French, German and drawing, and also requested a portrait. I'll answer today; if I hear more I'll write to you directly." (JLB 69, 2/7/1876.) Anna’s correspondence both confirms some of Vincent's details about the job offer and provides the additional information that it was "in the home of a minister and teacher" (b2233 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 2/9/1876). In his letter to Theo on the same day, Dorus provided supplementary information to Theo (some of it apparently gleaned from an almanac or atlas): "Vincent has a letter from a minister, who also is a teacher in Scaborough [sic], county of York in England a city of 9000 inhabitants on the East side of England on the sea." This is the only such exploratory offer reported before the one that arrived from Ramsgate the day Vincent left Paris (see Ch. 7, n. 312). As to the Scarborough offer, Bailey states flatly, "[Vincent] was turned down" (Bailey, Young Vincent, pp. 69-71). We can find no direct evidence that Vincent ever heard from the Scarborough minister again; but, in a situation like this, silence would constitute rejection.

411. unanswered

BVG 53, 2/2/1876. Vincent said nothing more about his job search until just a few days before leaving Paris: "Today I responded to two more advertisements, I'll go on doing it, even though most of my letters remain unanswered" (JLB 72, 3/23/1876). We take this to be a reference to the single response from the Scarborough minister in February (see Ch. 7, n. 410). If there had been any other substantive responses, Vincent would surely have informed Theo, and the news would have been reported in his parents' letters.

Context:
JLB 68, 2/2/1876: "I still haven't had a reply to various letters I wrote in response to advertisements."

412. increasingly anxious

BVG 55, 2/19/1876. "[T]he days fly by here, and the time of my departure will soon be here"(JLB 70, 2/19/1876). A month later, he wrote: "My time here is running out awfully fast, less than three weeks to go now" (JLB 71, 3/15/1876). A week after that, he wrote: "My time here is running out" (JLB 72, 3/23/1876).

Context:
JLB 70, 2/19/1876: "And now it's already Saturday evening, the days fly by here, and the time of my departure will soon be here."

413. "My hour approaches"

BVG 56, 3/15/1876.

Context:
BVG 56, 3/15/1876: "My hour approaches: just three more weeks."
JLB 71, 3/15/1876: "My time here is running out awfully fast, less than three weeks to go now."

414. Defying his parents

b0953 V/1962, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876: Vincent’s parents wanted him to find work in Holland: "I would prefer that there was a position for him in this country," Anna wrote. Dorus, however, agreed that Vincent’s chances of finding a job in London would be better if he were there (b0954 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876). This was the same argument, after all, that had prompted him to send daughter Anna to London (with successful results) two years before.

415. go to London

b0954 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876. He did not receive word of the job offer in Ramsgate until the morning of his long-scheduled departure (JLB 74, 4/4/1876).

416. turning again to Kempis's Christ

Vincent's last letters from Paris are filled with Kempian passages: "we can only continue quietly with our eyes on Him whom we think of when we say 'Who will shew us any good?'" (JLB 68, 2/2/1876). He went alone to the Anglican church that he and Gladwell had often visited and listened, moved, to a sermon on the text: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" (JLB 69, 2/7/1876). When he found a mouse in his room, he laid out food for it, citing the biblical injunction to "please the poor" (JLB 67, 1/24/1876). He compared his plight to the trials of Job: "There are words that keep haunting me these days, they are the text for today: 'His children will seek to please the poor.'" (ibid.). The cited phrase is from Job 20:10: "His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods." Vincent's citation of this obscure verse is puzzling. In the Bible, it comes as part of the undeserved vilification of Job, describing the terrible fate of the "wicked" man (i.e., Job). Vincent seems to have taken it out of its negative context, although he probably identified with Job, not the accuser. He may have been using a biblical almanac and was therefore unaware of the context. Otherwise, the next verse might have struck him in exactly the wrong way: "His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust" (Job 20:11).

118

417. "You will feel great comfort"

Kempis, pp. 47-48.

418. more prints

BVG 58, 3/28/1876: At Durand-Ruel, Vincent bought three prints after Millet. He promised to give one of them to Theo.

Context:
JLB 73, 3/28/1876: "I couldn't resist buying a couple after Millet: I bought the last 3 of The evening angelus, and my brother will of course receive one when the opportunity arises."

419. farewell to friends

In this regard, it is interesting to contrast Vincent's final weeks in Paris, during which his letters contain no mention of any social interaction whatsoever (except for a visit by Gladwell on his birthday), with his busy final weeks in The Hague in 1873 (see Chapter 5).

420. filling out

Vincent mentioned Andersen's Vertellingen van de maan (What the Moon Saw), in letters JLB 68, 2/2/1876 and JLB 69, 2/7/1876 It is therefore presumed that the final long entry in his poetry album was excerpted from this book, and that at least that part of the album was done after February 7, 1876 (see Pabst, p. 38). Much more of it could have been done after that date.

421. left Paris

BVG 58, 3/28/1876.

Context:
JLB 73, 3/28/1876: A few more words, probably the last I'll write to you from Paris.

422. orderly leave-taking

Vincent apparently finished out the work week at Goupil before leaving on the overnight train (JLB 73, 3/28/1876).

423. saw him off

BVG 59, 4/4/1876.

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "Gladwell brought me to the train last Friday evening."

424. took Vincent's job

BVG 57, 3/25/1876: Vincent frames this succession as a passive move on Gladwell’s part. It is not clear if Vincent was as peeved by what could be seen as his friend's usurpation.

Context:
JLB 72, 3/23/1876: "Gladwell is getting my place at the gallery; he's there already, learning the ropes before I leave."

425. moved into his room

b0953 V/1962, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/15/1876: In March, Anna wrote Theo that: "Gladwell will come live in his room again ..." It is not clear whose room she is referring to. Gladwell could have been returning to his earlier room, or moving into the room that Vincent was about to vacate.

426. At the last minute

BVG 59, 4/4/1876: It is not clear if Vincent is referring to the morning of his departure (Friday, March 31), or the previous morning. The letter was signed by a "Mr. Stokes," headmaster of a small boys' school in Ramsgate. William Port Stokes taught in south-east England (see JLB 74, 4/4/1876; n. 5; and see Chapter 8).

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "On the morning before my departure from Paris I received a letter from a teacher in Ramsgate."

427. fresh start

BVG 59, 4/4/1876.

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "You can imagine that I'm glad to have found something."

428. paid nothing initially

BVG 59, 4/4/1876: According to Stokes's letter, a small salary might be available at some later point.

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "On the morning before my departure from Paris I received a letter from a teacher in Ramsgate who suggested that I come there for a month (without pay) in order to see whether he can use me at the end of that time."

429. lovingly detailed

Van Heugten, p. 58: "The original was drawn by Vincent, and was very finely done."

430. emphasized in pen

Van Heugten, p. 57.

431. train trip

BVG 59, 4/4/1876.

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "Yesterday I went with Pa to Brussels, Uncle Hein was really in a very sad state."

432. revisited Zundert

b0958 V/1962, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/16/1876: On Monday, April 17, only three days after Vincent left, his family did go to Zundert.

433. "good days"

b0957 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/16/1876.

434. "He is a good"

b2222 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/18/1876. The emphasis is ours, but the full passage in Theo’s letter supports it: "He is a good man through and through! That again was clear during his last stay." Lies echoed this sentiment: "Luckily, I was able to spend a few days at home with Vincent. I think that he looked very good." (b2746 V/1982, "Gogh, Elisabeth van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 4/21/1876.)

435. "a few days"

b0952 V/1962, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/8/1876.

436. 8-Apr

BVG 59, 4/4/1876: The Saturday immediately following April 4 was April 8.

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "And now, until Saturday. Have a safe trip, ever."

437. spring sales trip

b0956 V/1962, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/31/1876: Anna wrote Theo: "We saw the list of the places you're having to visit, very nice, especially pleasant, for you, the unknown cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen. Although we know that the purpose of your journey is business and not pleasure, you will still be able to see lots of beautiful regions." It is not clear whether Theo fit the visit to Etten at the end of the sales trip, or in the middle of it.

438. Vincent could not stay

Vincent had waited until after his birthday (March 30) to arrive in Etten and hw left on April 14, two days before Easter (b0958 V/1962, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 4/16/1876) -- almost as if he were consciously avoiding the family's cherished celebrations. Dorus complained: "We asked him to spend his vacation here, but he thought it better not to" (b2756 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 7/1/1876). In fact, the new term at the school in Ramsgate would not start for another week, as Vincent himself admitted after arriving in England (JLB 77, 4/17/1876). Presumably, he might even have arranged to stay until his parents' silver anniversary a month later (May 21), if he had wanted to (Van Crimpen, in Van Spanndonk, Wildenberg, and Mulder-Koenen, p. 82).

439. the subject of art came up

BVG 59, 4/4/1876. Vincent reported to Theo: “In the train Pa and I talked a lot about paintings, including the paintings by Rembrandt in the Louvre and the portrait of Burgomaster Six, and also especially about [Georges] Michel" (JLB 74, 4/4/1876). The subject of this father-son conversation would later become important: the interconnectedness of art, religion, and nature.

Context:
JLB 74, 4/4/1876: "In the train Pa and I talked a lot about paintings, including the paintings by Rembrandt in the Louvre and the portrait of Burgomaster Six, and also especially about [Georges] Michel."

440. "It's incredible"

b0956 V/1962, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/31/1876: Ever balancing positive and negative, Anna sounded a hopeful but elegiac note over Vincent’s departure: “We hope that he will be in good spirits and, that he will be blessed in finding something soon. Something that suits him, which he likes and where he feels the ambition to express all of his strengths and talents. It's incredible how much he loves art and how deeply it touches him having to leave everything behind.”

441. "We hope that"

b2222 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/18/1876. The two parts of this quotation, separated by about two weeks, are held together by Anna's anxiety. The second part of the quotation is just a more specific expression of the worry that she expressed immediately following the first part (i.e., in the ellipsis): "We don't need to tell you that we feel the same and that you will be very disappointed. Hopefully we will live another year to celebrate [Vincent's] birthday."

119

442. Theo returning to The Hague

b2222 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/18/1876: Anna and Dorus congratulated Theo on his good reports of a successful first sales trip: "We are glad that you are pleased with your trip and that Mr. Tersteeg is pleased with its success." And, later in the same letter: "Again congratulations with the success of your first trip."

443. Goupil's move

See Ch. 4, n. 308.

444. left at four

b0958 V/1962, ''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 4/16/1876.

445. two days before Easter

See Ch. 7, n. 438. In mid April, Anna wrote that "Friday was a difficult day for us as Vincent departed” (b0958 V/1962, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 4/16/1876). On the morning he departed, which was gray and overcast, Vincent joined his family for Good Friday Communion (ibid.) where he listened to his father preach: "Arise, let us go hence" (JLB 78, 4/21/1876). The sermon text was apt in several ways: "But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." (John 14:31.) Afterwards, the family ate together at a restaurant in Hoeven (b0958 V/1962, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 4/16/1876]), then took Vincent to the train station. They said their goodbyes but could not linger because Dorus had another sermon to give. Vincent took note of their failure to wait with him for the train: "How much we long for each other, those first hours after parting, which you’re spending in church and I in the station and the train" (JLB 76, 4/17/1876).

446. the platform

Vincent may have taken a train from the Etten station, in which case he would have had to connect in Breda, two miles east, or Roosendaal, about fifteen miles west of Etten. The fact that his train went through Zevenbergen may suggest that he caught the Roosendaal-Rotterdam train. Because the family spent the day in Hoeven, about a mile northwest of Etten, they could have deposited Vincent at a station nearby (e.g., Oudenbosch) or returned to catch the train in Etten. Later, the Van Goghs often left from Roosendaal when traveling north to The Hague or Amsterdam.

447. banished himself

BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876; emphasis added. This became even clearer to Vincent when he passed through Zevenbergen, the site of his first banishment, from the Zundert parsonage, in 1864 -- until now, his most painful farewell. "We just passed Zevenbergen,” he recorded, “and I thought of the day you took me there and I stood on Mr. Provily's steps and watched your carriage driving away down the wet street” (JLB 76, 4/17/1876). (See Chapter 3.)

Context:
JLB 76, 4/17/1876: "Now I look out over rolling pastures, and everything is so quiet and the sun is setting behind the grey clouds and throws a golden glow across the land. How much we long for each other, those first hours after parting, which you're spending in church and I in the station and the train, and how much we think of the others, of Theo, and of Anna and the other sisters and of little brother."

448. scratch a plaintive note

BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876: Vincent's first letter from Ramsgate (addressed to his parents) is written in part from these notes that he made while traveling. The tenses and constructions of the subsequent account suggest that it was written en route: "Now I look out over rolling pastures, and everything is so quiet and the sun is setting behind the grey clouds and throws a golden glow across the land. How much we long for each other, those first hours after parting, which you're spending in church and I in the station and the train, and how much we think of the others, of Theo, and of Anna and the other sisters and of little brother. We just passed Zevenbergen." (JLB 76, 4/17/1876.)

Context:
JLB 76, 4/17/1876: "I wrote down a few things in the train and am sending you that, so you can see how my trip went."

449. "We have often"

BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876. (We have slightly altered the Bonger translation.)

Context:
BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876: "We have often parted already; this time there was more sorrow in it than there used to be, but also more courage because of the firmer hope, the stronger desire, for God's blessing."
JLB 76, 4/17/1876: "We've often parted from each other already, though this time there was more sorrow than before, on both sides, but courage as well, from the firmer faith in, and greater need for, blessing."

450. "But now"

BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876: We have slightly altered the Bonger translation. (See Ch. 7, n. 449.)

Context:
BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876: "We have often parted already; this time there was more sorrow in it than there used to be, but also more courage because of the firmer hope, the stronger desire, for God's blessing."
JLB 76, 4/17/1876: "We've often parted from each other already, though this time there was more sorrow than before, on both sides, but courage as well, from the firmer faith in, and greater need for, blessing."

451. found a poem

The poem is "Illusions" by the painter-poet Jules Breton.

452. left behind the meadows

BVG 60, 4/14/1876-4/17/1876: On the train trip, Vincent wrote of the view out the window.

Context:
JLB 76, 4/17/1876: " Now I look out over rolling pastures, and everything is so quiet and the sun is setting behind the grey clouds and throws a golden glow across the land."

453. "it struck me in particular"

BVG 48, 12/10/1875.

Context:
BVG 48, 12/10/1875: "I am sure you will like the book by Jules Breton. One of his poems, titled 'Illusions,' struck me in particular."
JLB 61, 12/10/1875: "You'll like the book by Jules Breton. There's one poem of his that I found especially moving: 'Illusions.'"