Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 22 October 1881

Well, here I am in this so much praised Seville. Here is a draft of a letter to Julian1 which will explain [struck: how] I am ill-disposed to see. In short, I am wasting a great deal of time here. I have seen the museum — a single room full of Murillo; I would prefer something else, especially as he has nothing but Virgins and other female saints. I, who am barbarous, presumptuous, ignorant, and coarse, have still not seen a Virgin as I imagine She should be. Raphael's Virgins are beautiful in photographs… Besides, I shall give you my precious opinion when I have seen them again. Murillo does not speak to me much, I confess — those Virgins with pink cheeks and round faces. There is the one in the Louvre so much copied; that is the most felt — one can even call it divine. And the tobacco factory.2 What a smell! If it were only the tobacco! A jumble of women with bare arms and necks, girls and children. For the most part these teeming creatures are pretty, and it is a curious visit. The Spanish women

# Samedi 22 octobre 1881

have a grace that other women do not have. Café singers, cigar rollers — they walk like queens, and with that a suppleness, an incomparable grace. And such necks! Round arms of very pure form with a magnificent tone… Victorious and astonishing creatures. There was one in particular who rose to go fetch tobacco leaves… The carriage of a queen, the suppleness of a cat, a divine grace… with a superb head, a dazzling complexion, such arms, such eyes, such a smile. By the name of a dog!3 Not to mention those who have merely style — all the girls are funny and ravishing. There are some ugly ones but few, and even the ugly ones have something.

espagnoles ont une grace que les autres femmes n'ont pas. Des chanteuses de cafe, des rouleuses de cigarillos marchent comme des reines et avec cela une souplesse, une grace incomparable. Et des cous attaches d'une facon ! Des bras ronds et d'une forme tres pure avec un ton magnifique... Des creatures victorieuses et etonnantes. Il y en avait une surtout qui s'est levee pour aller prendre des feuilles de tabac... Un port de reine, une souplesse de chatte, une grace divine... Avec une tete superbe, une carnation eblouissante, des bras, des yeux, un sourire. Nom d'un chien. Sans compter celles qui n'ont que du chic, les fillettes sont toutes droles et ravissantes. Il y en a de laides mais peu et les laides meme ont quelque chose.

Notes

Julian: the Académie Julian, the private art school on the Rue du Dragon in Paris where Marie studied painting alongside women students; she addressed her diary to it as a proxy for her Parisian artistic world. ↩
The Real Fábrica de Tabacos in Seville, one of the largest buildings in Spain; it employed several thousand women (cigarreras) to hand-roll cigars and cigarettes. Bizet's opera Carmen (1875) is set partly there. ↩
Nom d'un chien: a mild oath; polite euphemism for Nom de Dieu (God's name). ↩