Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Tuesday, 2 October 1877

Today is the day we move to 71 Champs-Élysées. Despite all this upheaval I found time to go to the Atelier Julian, the only serious one for women. One works there every day from eight to twelve and from one to five. A nude man was posing when Monsieur Julian led me into the room.
We encountered Torlonia [words crossed out: who is decidedly very agreeable, and it is the Paris air,] ten times on the steps and near the cashier. This so well-bred young man has become more agreeable. It is the Paris air. Had he been like this in Rome I would have imagined him in love with me. All men of the world are more or less distinguished, polite, attentive — but this magnificent Torgnole has a distinction and a politeness all his own; I do not know whether I am making myself clear when I say that one can plainly see he was brought up by a distinguished and intelligent woman — she alone can give those simple, good manners. One could not be more agreeable, more pleasant, more chic, more anything you please, than this Jew — but for me he is the well-bred man par excellence. Well, I love everything that is excellent, whether it be a man, a dress, a dinner, or a factory.

Notes

The Académie Julian, founded 1868 by Rodolphe Julian, was one of the very few Parisian studios that admitted women students and allowed them to draw from nude models. ↩
"Torgnole": Marie's playful distortion of Torlonia, echoing the French word torgnole (a slap or cuff), used here affectionately. ↩