Notes
Léon Gambetta (1838–1882): the most celebrated French Republican statesman of the Third Republic, hero of the Franco-Prussian War and founder of the moderate Republican consensus. He died on 31 December 1882, aged forty-four, from a pistol wound (accidental or possibly suicide — the circumstances were never fully explained). His death was a shock of the first order to French political life. ↩
His ministry: Gambetta formed his "Grand Ministry" in November 1881, with great hopes — but it fell after only seventy-three days in January 1882, brought down by parliament on minor procedural grounds. Marie's mockery of the pretext is accurate: the opposition was searching for any occasion to defeat him. ↩
Chopin's Funeral March: the third movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 — one of the most famous pieces of funereal music in the 19th-century repertoire. Dusautoy playing it on New Year's Day, after Gambetta's death, was entirely appropriate. ↩
Étincelle: the pen-name of Comtesse de Martel, Marie-Mathilde ("Gyp"), one of the leading journalists and society chroniclers of the Figaro. Her daughter "Mimie" was a potential portrait commission. ↩
Albert Wolff (1835–1891): the powerful art critic of the Figaro, whose approval or dismissal could make or break a Salon career. Marie had been watching for his notice since her first exhibitions. ↩