Maréchale Canrobert

Who she was

Leïla Flora Macdonald was born on 29 June 1838 at Sultanpore in British India, the daughter of Allen-Ronald Macdonald and Éliza-Anna Smith. On 19 January 1863, in Paris (8th arrondissement), she married Marshal Canrobert, twenty-nine years her senior. She died at Jouy-en-Josas on 5 August 1889 (napoleon.org, biography of Canrobert). Her children were Claire (born 1865), Marcelin (1867–1921) and, from Marie's diary, a younger son Louis; see the Canrobert family.

Marie calls her "la maréchale" or "Mme Canrobert". She sees her as English in everything but residence: of the house at Jouy she says it was fitted up "avec le génie anglais du confort" (100.0294), and in her last, irritated entry on the family she calls her "cette maréchale si anglaisement admirable" (105.0453). The Marshal's wife appears as a hostess with a country house and as the manager of her daughter's artistic education.

Marie and the Maréchale

The name first appears on 22 December 1879, when Mme Gavini tells Marie that "la Maréchale Canrobert et d'autres dames" had been at a charity event and found it very good (087.0006). Nothing more passes between them until 1883.

February to May 1883: the acquaintance. On 3 February 1883 the Maréchale comes to Marie's studio with her daughter, who also works at the Académie Julian, and is shown the studio (098.0279). Marie's mother returns the call on the 24th, and Marie is delighted (098.0396): Mme Canrobert "vaut bien les Charette", the wife of the papal general, who "ne sont jamais venus un samedi" (098.0432). On 28 February mother and daughter see the picture Marie is painting (#Jean et Jacques) and stay for the perspective lessons given by Émile Bastien-Lepage (098.0431). On 26 March the Maréchale proposes that Marie, her mother and Alice be photographed at Benque's, so that their portraits match in size those of the Maréchale and her daughter: the five photographs go under a leather screen bearing Émile Bastien's monogram, as a present to the teacher. Marie finds the idea "très délicate" (098.0587–0588).

In the spring the Maréchale becomes Marie's sponsor in society. On the evening of 4 April she brings the Bashkirtseffs to Mme Hochon's soirée, where Marie meets Cabanel and the sculptor Francesqui, "prévenu par les Canrobert" (099.0036–0037); on 11 April the Canroberts take her to Francesqui's studio, to the Arts Décoratifs and to tea (099.0103). The mornings of the Salon opening, 30 April, are spent with them (099.0254). On 14 May the Maréchale offers to replace Marie's mother during an absence, to take her to the ball of Mme de Vatry and "me secouer, m'amuser, me faire sortir": "Et puis je suis flattée de sortir avec la maréchale Canrobert et d'être l'amie de sa fille" (099.0442).

Summer 1883. Marie spends three days at Jouy-en-Josas in July (100.0294), and early September there too (101.0305–101.0332); see Marshal Canrobert. The Maréchale comes to Paris to fetch her herself ("la maréchale est venue cet après-midi pour me décider. Sont-ils gentils ces gens-là !", 3 July, 100.0277). She is, however, not an easy relation: on 16 July Marie thinks she is cooler than usual and her heart "fort compromis" (100.0371), and on 27 May she observes that "la maréchale ne reçoit pas", unlike the old Duchesse de Fitz-James (100.0011).

Winter 1883–1884. She calls with Claire before dinner (11 December, 102.0473), takes them to the Opéra-Comique for Carmen and kisses Marie at midnight on 31 December, wishing that "ma précieuse amitié reste à Claire" (102.0618). On New Year's Day Marie notes that Mme Gavini is jealous of this friendship, the Maréchale being rather cold with her (102.0628). On 7 January 1884 she fetches Marie and Claire to visit the painter Boulanger (102.0657), and on 12 January to see Lefèvre and Tony Robert-Fleury (102.0672); that evening she and Claire arrive at eleven from a marriage contract (102.0687). On 29 January, at Munkácsy's house, she fails to present Marie to Princess Mathilde: "ce qui m'a étonné beaucoup et froissé pas mal" (103.0172; see #Golgotha). On 19 February she brings the enameller Popelin (103.0346).

The Salon of 1884. On 15 March, the day the pictures are taken in (Marie writes of it on the 16th), the Maréchale, Claire, Villevieille, Marie and a doctor go off in cabs behind the canvases; each carries a small frame to get through the door more easily, the Maréchale the architect's watercolour (103.0528). Marie is accepted with a "n° 3" and not hung on the line, while Claire's picture is received (103.0582, 24 March); by 1 and 2 April Marie is sure the family now values her talent "trois fois moins", and resents the picture she painted for Claire (103.0655, 103.0692). Her verdict on the Maréchale's method: she has Claire "passer ses examens à l'hôtel de Ville", "l'a fait peindre, lui inculque de la littérature forte et la pose en fille supérieure. J'ai aidé à cette pose et maintenant. Ça m'apprendra" (103.0696). Her own family, meanwhile, "est à genoux devant les Canrobert car elle s'imagine que ça va nous poser" (103.0457). Summer 1884: the last stay. In July Marie is made to paint another picture for Claire (105.0281). At Jouy (end of July) the Maréchale appears as the shaper of her daughter: "Je crois qu'il entre dans le système de l'éducation que la maréchale donne à sa fille, de lui donner entre autres une amie étrangère" (105.0360); "la maréchale a une haute idée de la peinture de sa fille, par moments je crois vraiment qu'elle pense que Claire fait le tableau" (105.0363). From five to seven each day she stands behind Marie's back while she paints: "c'est agaçant de sentir un être qui suit tous vos coups de pinceaux" (105.0404). On 4 August Marie sits beside her at the Versailles Congress (105.0423), and that night her irritation is explicit: "parfois les grandes mains blanches et les cheveux noirs crépus de la maréchale m'agacent" (105.0435). On 5 August: "Cette maréchale si anglaisement admirable, avec cette pointe de sottise de chèvre qu'on ne trouve qu'aux Anglaises" (105.0453). She and Claire last call on 26 August, in Paris to buy the wedding present for young Fleury (105.0675).

Related entries

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