Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 26 January 1884

Claire's painting again — but I let her fiddle with the flowers; the maréchale comes to see it and brings her sons; while she goes to the drawing room to pay a call on Maman, the five children remain in the studio. [Blacked out: Dina and] I — just children, essentially.
It is undeniable that I want to talk about Bastien-Lepage constantly, and that it costs me not to. What would people think?
I must at least speak of him here — and look, as I write, my eyes fall upon the fingers of my left hand holding the page: these living, nervous fingers bring his painting to mind; the hands he paints are alive, skin wraps around them and one senses the muscles about to stir. The painting I saw yesterday seems better to me today. I begin to find something in it... Yes — it is a small chimney sweep taken in by his hideous mother, painted in an attic with old furniture tumbled about and two cats watching him eat his ham. Yesterday I found nothing interesting in it.
Well, yes...
Good stout peasants I could accept readily — yes, a good old woman in a bonnet would be sympathetic — but this working-class woman bareheaded, neither young nor old... It was painted ten years ago... The technique reflects this; it is not as assured as his current work, and it resembles Courbet slightly.
A washed-out fair face, mismatched eyes and a crooked mouth... in short, nothing to hold on to.
A disagreeable air... The father has the head of a German tailor — a beak of a nose but large, a red-and-white beard, a skullcap, spectacles... not sympathetic either... These people look unpleasant... I would far rather have had a good old peasant woman in a bonnet, looking happy... to have such a son.

Notes

Appearing in public without a bonnet was considered improper for respectable women; it marked working-class status. ↩