Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Tuesday, 19 December 1882

But as there is also an invitation from the Gavinis, who have the Rothschilds' front box at the Français, one must do both. I dress underneath and have only the long fitted overcoat and hat to remove on arriving at the theatre around ten o'clock, [words blacked out: where we find] the Gavinis naturally, Randouin, Plater, Montgomery, Géry. As for the Exhibition, we go as a family — I on Papa's arm, which looks well... Ah! the beautiful things. Ah! the people of talent. Ah! fortunate mortals. We talk with Edelfelt (introduced by Cartwright — that is tiresome), Carolus, Bastien, Saint-Marceaux. I stammered with fear speaking to the last-named — I had just been literally seized by his busts and I must have seemed foolish. He looks malicious though amiable, and I am terrified of boring him. Bastien is an angel — everyone was fighting over him.
I was almost weeping at having to leave for the theatre. It is impossible to imagine a more ravishing impression than that room where there is nothing but remarkable works. At the Salon everything is drowned in horrors; here, at every step there is something exquisite.
On our return everyone was exchanging impressions, and my aunt remarked that I was dressed like a beggar — which retrospectively disconcerts me considerably; though it can be explained: I had not worn my furs, and they had been afraid I might fall ill in that room where one was stifling... If that is not an irritating life, I leave you to imagine it. And how clever of them. To wound my vanity in order to protect me from draughts. Ah — idiots.

Notes

The Rothschilds' front box (avant-scène des Rothschild): the Rothschild family maintained a permanent subscription to the most prestigious front box at the Comédie-Française. Being invited to it was a significant social distinction. ↩
Edelfelt: Albert Edelfelt (1854–1905), Finnish painter and one of the most celebrated northern European artists working in Paris in the 1880s. His naturalistic portraits and historical scenes had won considerable Salon success. ↩
Carolus: Carolus-Duran (1837–1917), celebrated French portrait painter and teacher (his most famous student was John Singer Sargent). He represented the height of Parisian fashionable portraiture. ↩