The Engelhardts

Who they were

"Les Engelhardt" are a Russian mother and son living in Paris, near the Parc Monceau quarter (102.0548). Marie calls the mother "Mme la Générale Engelhardt, une notabilité de la colonie russe" (088.0068): her husband was presumably a Russian general, but his name is never given. The son is about thirty in 1883 ("un petit aztèque, de trente ans", 102.0094; "Aztèque" is Marie's contemptuous word for ugly or primitive-looking, and she repeats it in 1884: 105.0058). First names, dates and the family's origin are not in the diary and could not be found in a published source; the surname is a common Baltic-German noble name in the Russian Empire, but nothing in the text allows Marie's acquaintances to be linked to any particular Engelhardt family. In 1882 she shortens the name to "Engel" (095.0253). The printed edition has the typographical variants "Englehardt", "Engelhadt" and "Engdelhardt", corrected in the source (103.0227, 104.0672).

Another entry, Mme Engelhardt, describes the same lady from the single party of 21 November 1880; it is a duplicate of this one.

Marie and the Engelhardts

Introduction, spring 1880. Marie writes on 1 May 1880 that the son "a été présenté il y a une quinzaine de jours" and that Mme Engelhardt met Maman at church the day before and was "très aimable"; the Bashkirtseffs took her home at four in the morning after supper (088.0068). The mother and son soon come to dinner and to the theatre. On 25 May Marie names the son among her "cavaliers" for an outing, where he represents "la colonie russe" with Mlle Cerny (088.0347). On 6 June they meet in the street and Mme Engelhardt invites Maman and Marie (088.0669). In late June the aunt goes to Saint-Cloud with her (089.0054), and the Engelhardts take the family to the Opéra-Comique in the Marquis de Casa Riera's box (089.0063); Marie is bored: "Elle a peut-être autant assez de moi, que moi assez d'elle" (089.0044).

Her salon, 1880 to 1882. On 20 November 1880 Marie goes to a small evening at Mme Engelhardt's "pour qu'on ne me dise pas malade": tea, several Russian ladies, and the only guest the Bashkirtseffs invite in return is Thomas de Barbarin (090.0254). The hostess thanks Marie next day for having made an exception for her (090.0255). Marie's pianist friend Dautoy is "rencontré chez Mme Engelhardt" in March 1881 (091.0215). The Engelhardts appear in the lists of Russian visitors through 1881 and 1882 (090.0514, 091.0453, 091.0490, 091.0522, 095.0154, 095.0245, 095.0253, 095.0282).

A fixture of the dinner table, 1883. From the winter of 1883 the Engelhardts dine at the Bashkirtseffs' almost daily with the princess Karageorgevitch, Bojidar, Mlle Tchernitsky, the Orthodox priest and other Russian habitués (098.0397, 099.0181, 099.0447, 100.0277, 100.0296, 102.0171). They come to the memorial service on 13 June 1883, two days after the telegram announcing Marie's father's death, with only Saint-Amand, Bojidar and Mlle Tchernitsky (100.0141). Marie accepts them as company but with growing contempt: in April 1883 she hears the dinner talk as people "qui ne font rien et qui passent leur vie à dire des niaiseries ou des potins" (099.0181); on 3 November "gens moisis" (102.0094); on 25 November "Ces gens m'ennuyent" (102.0320). On 22 June 1883 the lecturer and journalist Olympe Odouard, introducing herself, says she is a cousin of Mme Clovis Hugues and a friend of the Engelhardts, and offers to publish Marie's portrait and biography (100.0192).

The Gil Blas rumour, December 1883. On 24 December 1883 Mme Engelhardt arrives unexpectedly at five o'clock and asks whether this is "le quartier Monceau": the Gil Blas has printed that "une jeune fille étrangère qui s'occupe exclusivement de peinture" in the quarter is pregnant by a married man (102.0548 to 102.0554). She heard it from a Mme Tomansky who had read it. Marie answers that she does not know whom it means, then reads the item in the paper herself (102.0563 and following) and finds it absurd; she is furious at "les stupidités et les grossièretés de concierges" of Russians "même bien élevés" (102.0556). The scene leaves her disgusted with the family: "ils me dégoûtent après l'histoire du journal" (102.0590), and "Ces Engelhardt, ce journal, ce que cela fait dire, croire, inventer..." (102.0591).

1884. The Engelhardts dine on 3 January, 24 January, 2 February and 2 March (102.0640, 103.0117, 103.0227, 103.0449). On 8 June 1884 Marie, in a ravishing dress, notes that even those who see her every day, "les Engelhardt par exemple", are astonished (104.0549). On 5 July the "aztèque Engelhardt", the elder Géry and the journalist Ducros go with her to the wrestlers at Neuilly because they are "des gens sans conséquence" (105.0058). On 17 July she writes that Bastien-Lepage treats the Bashkirtseffs as they treat the Engelhardts and the Tchoumakoffs, and asks why she is happy to spend hours with Julian or Émile but only tolerates the Engelhardts (105.0233, 105.0246). On 30 August: "Le pope ! Les Engelhardt ! l'architecte !" (105.0716).

Related entries

Sources