Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Monday, 8 January 1883

Truly this man filled France and almost Europe. Everyone must feel that someone is missing; it seems there is nothing left to read in the newspapers, nothing left to do in the Chamber. There are doubtless more useful men — obscure ones, workers, inventors, patient administrators... They will never have this prestige, this magic, this power. To excite enthusiasm, devotion, to rally [words blacked out: to run between parties] — to be the heroic mouthpiece of the nation: is that not useful, skilful, admirable? To embody one's country, to be the flag towards which all eyes turn in the moment of danger... Is that not more than all those cabinet merits, those virtuous and wise abilities of [word blacked out] ripened [minds]? Good God — if Victor Hugo were to die this evening it would mean nothing to anyone; his work is there whatever happens, and it matters little whether he died today or ten years ago — besides, he has accomplished his career. But Gambetta was life, the daylight renewed each morning; he was the soul of the Republic; he was the glory, the fall, the triumph or the ridicule of the entire country. He was events; he was the word; he was an epic in action and in speech of which not a gesture nor an inflection of voice will ever be recaptured. Prodigious incarnation of a party that is almost the whole of France — and in any case the dispenser of everything that made hearts vibrate with sympathy, fear, envy, admiration, or hatred.

Vraiment cet homme remplissait la France et presque l'Europe. Tout le monde doit sentir que quelqu'un manque; il semble qu'il ne reste plus rien a lire dans les journaux, rien a faire a la Chambre. Il y a sans doute des hommes plus utiles, obscurs, travailleurs, inventeurs, administrateurs patients... Ils n'auront jamais ce prestige, cette magie, cette puissance. Exciter l'enthousiasme, le devouement, grouper [Mots noircis: courir les partis] etre le porte-voix heroique de la patrie; ce n'est donc pas utile, habile, admirable ? Incarner son pays, etre le drapeau vers lequel tous les yeux se tournent au moment du danger... Ce n'est donc pas plus que tous ces merites de cabinet, ces vertus et ces habiletes sages de [Mot noirci: fatalismes] muris. Mon Dieu Victor Hugo mourrait ce soir que cela ne ferait rien a personne, son oeuvre est la quoiqu'il advienne et il importe peu qu'il soit mort aujourd'hui ou il y a dix ans, et puis il a accompli sa carriere. Mais Gambetta c'etait la vie, la lumiere du jour renaissant tous les matins, c'etait l'ame de la Republique, c'etait la gloire, la chute, le triomphe ou le ridicule du pays entier. C'etait les evenements, c'etait la parole; c'etait une epopee en action et en discours dont on ne ressaisira plus jamais ni un geste ni une inflexion de voix. Prodigieuse incarnation d'un parti qui est presque la France entiere, et de toute facon dispensateur de tout ce qui faisait vibrer les coeurs de sympathie, de crainte, d'envie, d'admiration ou de haine.

And it is over for ever.

Et c'est fini pour jamais.

What will become of Rochefort — and about what will he be witty? And who will now prevent the development of M. Clemenceau's talent?

Que va devenir Rochefort et a propos de quoi fera-t-il de l'esprit. Et qui empechera le developpement du talent de M. Clemenceau ?

At Père Lachaise1 there was a tremendous procession of the people. Never, a newspaper says, has such a day-after been seen.

Au Pere Lachaise il y a eu une procession formidable du peuple. Jamais, dit un journal, on n'a vu un pareil lendemain.

If I had had the happiness of knowing this man, I do not know what I should have become by now...

Si j'avais eu le bonheur de connaitre cet homme je ne sais ce que je serais devenue a present...

The illness and death of Gambetta,

La maladie et la mort de Gambetta,

Germany and Gambetta,

L'Allemagne et Gambetta,

The demonstrations,

Les manifestations,

The wreaths,

Les couronnes,

Gambetta in private, etc.2

Gambetta intime etc.

One reads this in the newspapers and it seems so incredible, so atrocious, so unjust, like...

On lit cela dans les journaux et cela parait si incroyable, si atroce, si injuste, comme...

My family thinks I am very silly to remain prostrated over things that do not concern me. And Dusautoy says that such feelings have this horror about them — that I would always prefer to my own man, to a man who had given me his soul and his life, some great man, some hero with whom I may perhaps not have spoken twice, and to whom I shall devote myself. There is no danger — I shall never have so much happiness; I always pass beside it, or below.

Ma famille trouve que je suis bien bonne de rester abattue pour des choses qui ne me regardent pas. Et Dusautoy dit que de tels sentiments ont cela d'horribles que je preferais toujours aux miens, a un homme qui m'aura donne son ame et sa vie, quelque grand homme, quelque heros a qui je n'aurai peut-etre pas parle deux fois et a qui je me devouerai. Il n'y a pas de danger, je n'aurai jamais tant de bonheur, moi je passe a cote ou en dessous.

It is sad, all the same.

C'est tout de meme triste.

My portrait has been "delivered." It is a veritable horror. I am not ugly in it — but I am making an extraordinary grimace; one would say I had been impaled, I am so stiff; I look as though I am afraid of falling out of the armchair. The eyes [words blacked out: vacant and] wide open stare into the void; the nose is hard and thick. But the crowning touch is the mouth — which is pretty in reality — rendered with a pinched grimace [word blacked out: of a smile] that balloons the cheeks. You know that I protest against such a representation for posterity. When it was brought, the servants came to say that someone had sent me a painting. What is it? — It is a lady in white. And when Rosalie says it is me, the others reply: "That Rosalie — what a joker, she always talks nonsense." Four thousand francs3 is steep for a grimace with no artistic value. The background is very dark red, thick, opaque — and above it shoulders lacking atmosphere,4 and this abominable head. The hands are good. The lace is so worked-over that it is heavy, thick, horrible. I have luck in everything.

Mon portrait est "livre". C'est une veritable horreur. Je ne suis pas laide la-dessus mais je fais une grimace extraordinaire, on dirait que je suis empalee tant je suis raide, j'ai l'air d'avoir peur de tomber de mon fauteuil. Les yeux [Mots noircis: vides et] grands ouverts fixent le vide, le nez est dur gros. Mais le bouquet c'est la bouche que j'ai jolie et qu'il m'a faite pincee dans une grimace [Mot noirci: de sourire] qui ballonne les joues. Vous savez que je pro-teste contre une pareille representation devant la posterite. Lorsqu'on l'a apporte les domestiques sont venus dire qu'on m'envoie un tableau. Qu'est-ce que c'est ? C'et une dame en blanc et lorsque Rosalie dit c'est moi les autres repondent: cette Rosalie quelle blagueuse, elle dit toujours des betises. Quatre mille francs c'est raide pour une grimace qui n'a pas de valeur artistique. Le fond est rouge tres fonce, epais, opaque et la- dessus des epaules manquant d'enveloppe et cette tete abominable. Les mains sont bien. La dentelle est si travaillee qu'elle est lourde, epaisse, affreuse. J'ai du bonheur en tout.

Notes

Père Lachaise: the famous Paris cemetery in the 20th arrondissement, where Gambetta was buried. The day after the public funeral, crowds continued to gather there. ↩
The newspaper section headlines (La maladie et la mort de Gambetta etc.): Marie lists the sub-headings of newspaper special coverage as a kind of litany — the itemisation of grief by the press machine. ↩
Four thousand francs: the sum she sent Tony as payment for the portrait (noted in the 24 December entry). In the 1880s, four thousand francs represented perhaps four to six months' salary for a comfortable bourgeois employee. ↩
Shoulders lacking atmosphere (manquant d'enveloppe): a technical painter's term — enveloppe means the atmospheric haze or gradation that integrates a figure into its background. Without it, the figure looks pasted on. Marie uses it with professional precision even in the middle of her indignant complaint. ↩