Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Sunday, 31 July 1881

Mlle de Mertens, Weeb, and Klumpke came to see my painting — but what I need is Julian or Tony. Without knowing where I stand, I have not the courage to undertake anything else... In short, I am beset by forty uncertainties and anxieties — pity me.
Saint Amand and Villevieille around three o'clock. I went with the latter to look for a small garden in Passy; on our return, père Géry comes to call — anxious, like all fathers, about his dear son; I tell him nonsense. Géry has quarrelled with Plon-Plon — it was Lachaud who engineered it; Gavini fares no better than Géry — too bad for the prince. Besides, all these people are mad to be in the service of such men! They say the prince is the most dreadful of ingrates; others say so too — but it is precisely such traits that made me fond of this strange Napoleon. They say I have no heart, and I imagine he is just like me. Besides — believe me — there is nothing but the Republic. And painting.
I was certain I had a magnificent subject: a group of men before an election poster. Julian is not enthusiastic about it — and in any case I have not yet found the location.
Ah! How vexing.

Notes

Klumpke: Anna Klumpke (1856–1942), an American-born painter who studied at the Académie Julian and later became a close friend and companion of Rosa Bonheur. Mertens and Weeb are fellow students whose further identification has not been established. ↩
Plon-Plon: the popular nickname of Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte (1822–1891), cousin of Napoleon III and pretender to the Bonapartist succession, known for his difficult temperament and his treatment of those around him. ↩
This strange Napoleon: Marie's characteristic ambivalence — she has followed Plon-Plon's career and politics with interest; his very failings make him fascinating to her. ↩
Election poster: the legislative elections of August–September 1881 (the third elections of the Third Republic) were underway, and campaign posters were displayed throughout Paris — providing Marie with what she saw as a perfectly modern genre-painting subject. ↩