Letter 13 London, Jan. 1874
My dear Theo,
Many thanks for your letter. My warm good wishes for a very happy New Year. I know you are doing well at The Hague, because Mr. Tersteeg told me so. I can see from your letter that you are taking a keen interest in art, and that鈥檚 a good thing, old fellow. I鈥檓 glad you like Millet, Jacque, Schreyer, Lambinet,
Frans Hals, etc., for as Mauve says, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 it.鈥?That painting by Millet, L鈥檃ng茅lus du soir, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 it,鈥?p style="line-height:25px;text-indent:32px"> indeed 鈥?that鈥檚 magnificent, that鈥檚 poetry. How I wish I could have another talk with you about art; but we鈥檒l just have to keep writing to each other about it. Admire as much as you can; most people don鈥檛 admire enough.
Here are the names of a few the painters I particularly like. Scheffer, Delaroche, H茅bert, Hamon, Leys,
Tissot, Lagye, Boughton, Millais, Thijs [Matthijs] Mans, De Groux, De Braekeleer, Jr., Millet, Jules Breton, Feyen-Perrin, Eug猫ne Feyen, Brion, Jundt, George Saal, Isra毛ls, Anker, Knaus, Vautier, Jourdan,
Jalabert, Antigna, Compte-Calix, Rochussen, Meissonier, Zamacois, Madrazo, Ziem, Boudin, G茅r么me,
Fromentin, de Tournemine, Pasini, Decamps, Bonington, Diaz, Th. Rousseau, Troyon, Dupr茅, Paul Huet,
Corot, Jacque, Otto Weber, Daubigny, Wahlberg, Bernier, 脡mile Breton, Chenu, C茅sar de Cock, Mile.
Collart, Bodmer, Koekkoek, Schelfhout, Weissenbruch, and last [but] not least, Maris and Mauve.
But I could carry on like that for I don't know how long, and then there are still all the old masters, and I am sure I have forgotten some of the best of the modern ones.
Do go on doing a lot of walking and keep up your love of nature, for that is the right way to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love her and teach us to see.
And then there are painters who never do anything that is no good, who cannot do anything bad, just as there are ordinary people who can do nothing but good.
I鈥檓 getting on very well here. I鈥檝e got a delightful home and I鈥檓 finding it very pleasurable taking a look at London and the English way of life and the English people themselves, and then I鈥檝e got nature and art and poetry, and if that isn鈥檛 enough, what is? But I haven鈥檛 forgotten Holland and especially not The Hague and Brabant.
We are busy at the office doing stocktaking, but it will all be over in 5 days, we got off more lightly than you did in The Hague.
I hope that, like me, you had a happy Christmas.
And so, my boy, best wishes and write to me soon, Je t鈥櫭ヽris un peu au hasard ce qui me vient dans ma plume [ I have written to you in this manner just as it came into my pen], I hope you鈥檒l be able to make something of it.
Goodbye, regards to everybody at work and to anybody else who asks after me, especially everybody at Aunt Fie鈥檚 and at the Haanebeeks鈥?
Vincent
I am enclosing a few lines for Mr. Roos.