Ignotus (Félix Platel)

Overview

"Ignotus" was the pen name under which Félix Platel (born 1832) wrote for Le Figaro; a lawyer and local mayor before he turned journalist, he joined the paper in the early 1870s and became known for polished portraits of public figures such as Gambetta and Sarah Bernhardt (Paris Zigzag, pariszigzag.fr/insolite/felix-platel-ignotus; a popular-history source, not checked against a catalogue record). The Mon Journal t.8 index lists him as «Ignotus (journaliste) : 230».

Relevance to Marie

Two of his Figaro portraits of Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, the uncle of Pietro Antonelli, are pasted into the diary:

• 27 June 1876: «Le cardinal Antonelli», which ends by suggesting that the cardinal might succeed Pius IX (062.0754–062.0766). Marie cut it out and attached it to her journal (062.0753), and it set off her dream of becoming «nièce du pape» (062.0768–062.0774).
• November 1876: the piece on the cardinal's death, pasted in at the end of Livre 67 together with the issue's table of contents («Le cardinal Antonelli : Ignotus», 067.1602; text 067.1603–067.1611, 067/1876-12-11).

References in Diary

• First mentioned: 1876-06-27 (062.0766, signature of the clipping)
• 1876-12-11 (067.1602, 067.1611)