Thursday, 19 May 1881

Since Tuesday I have been painting the portrait of the daughter of the famous baritone Maurel. She is fourteen and a half and ravishing. It was Villevieille who brought her. Maurel and his wife occupy a fine small townhouse on the rue Lord Byron and give artistic evenings — most interesting ones — attended by a few society women as well. Yesterday Saint-Amand came to the studio with Maurel, and Maurel came back again today.
It appears he is a painter as Ingres was a violinist...
Apropos of music — I charmed the ears of my masters with the mandolin. Julian declares that instrument moves him extraordinarily.

Notes

Victor Maurel (1848–1923): celebrated French baritone, later the creator of Verdi’s Iago and Falstaff. ↩
Ingres (1780–1867) was a keen amateur violinist; hence the French idiom violon d’Ingres, a hobby pursued beside one’s real art. ↩