I work on the painting outdoors, then to the Canroberts' and to Princess Jeanne's — we find only her mother there. This woman who was a laundress, they say, is still beautiful at fifty-two, with long, supple, white hands. Talk to me about breeding1 after such hands...
# Vendredi 1er février 1884
This evening, the private view at the Watercolourists' exhibition.2 Enormous crowd, no one of acquaintance, and fatigue...
Ce soir vernissage aux Aquarellistes. Foule énorme, personne de connaissance et fatigue...
Bastien sent nothing.
Bastien n'a rien envoyé.
The Gavinis, who came before dinner, find the portraits of the little Randouins perfect... But that proves nothing!
Les Gavini qui sont venus avant dîner trouvent les portraits des petits Randouin parfaits... Mais ça ne prouve rien !
Notes
Race in the 1880s sense of inherited refinement and physical distinction, not ethnicity.↩
The vernissage (varnishing day): a preview evening for artists and invited guests before a public exhibition opened.↩