[3] Anton Mauve was born on 18 September 1838 in Zaandam, a town in the Dutch province of North Holland.

He was a friend of renowned Dutch landscape painters Jozef Israëls and Willem Maris and, encouraged by their example, he abandoned his early highly finished manner for a freer, looser method of painting, and the brilliant palette of his youthful work for a tender lyric harmony which is generally restricted to delicate greys, greens, and light blue.

[7] In the last two years of his life, Mauve settled in the village of Laren in the region surrounding Hilversum called the Gooi area.

The group of painters who settled there, including Jozef Israëls and Albert Neuhuys, came to be known collectively as the Larense School and the region around the Gooi was dubbed 'Mauve land' as far afield as the United States.

Mauve continued to encourage him and lent him money to rent and furnish a studio, but later grew cold towards him and did not return a number of letters.

[13] The presumption must be that Mauve had heard of the relationship (although van Gogh's letter does not say so expressly) and broke off the association because of it.

And the one I brought home today would possibly appeal to you — it’s a dug-over patch of ground in an orchard, a wicker fence and two peach trees in full bloom, pink against a sparkling blue sky with white clouds and in sunshine.