Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Friday, 14 March 1884

It will not be finished — I shall therefore send only Un Meeting.

# Vendredi 14 mars 1884

This evening an intimate gathering at Mme Hochon's — many artists, and several ladies: the Duchesse d'Uzès,1 the Comtesse Cornet, the maréchale. Us.

Ce soir réunion intime chez Mme Hochon, beaucoup d'artistes et quelques dames comme la duchesse d'Uzès, la comtesse Cornet, la maréchale. Nous.

As for painters: Cabanel,2 Jalabert, Hébert, G. Ferrier, Boulanger, etc.

En fait de peintres Cabanel, Jalabert, Hébert, G. Ferrier, Boulanger etc.

Music is performed, and Salvayre plays and sings pieces from his Henri III.3

On fait de la musique et Salvayre joue et chante des morceaux de son Henri III.

All these people were kind to me; Cabanel was charming.

Tous ces gens ont été aimables pour moi; Cabanel a été charmant.

I go out so little and so rarely that it astonishes me; my dress was very much admired. A draped skirt in very supple black silk muslin, a Directoire-style4 crossed bodice, and a wide sash of black satin.

Je sors si peu et si rarement que cela m'étonne; ma robe a eu beaucoup de succès. Jupe drapée en mousseline de soie noire très souple, corsage croisé à la Directoire, et une large ceinture de satin noir.

Notes

Anne, Duchesse d'Uzès (1847–1933): one of the most prominent aristocratic women of the Belle Époque, celebrated for her sculpture, her hunting, and her political activism; later the first woman in France to receive a driver's licence (1898). ↩
Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889): leading academic painter and professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, famous for his Birth of Venus (1863); a dominant figure in official French art of the period. ↩
Gaston Salvayre (1847–1916): French composer; his opera Henri III was premièred at the Paris Opéra in 1883. ↩
Directoire style: a revival fashion recalling the dress of the French Directory period (1795–99), characterised by high waists, crossed or draped bodices, and a deliberately neo-classical severity. ↩