Mlle Marie Léontievna Oelsnitz

Who she was

Marie's paid companion (demoiselle de compagnie) in Paris from August 1878 to August 1881. The Mon Journal t.14 index names her «Oelsnitz (Marie Léontievna), demoiselle de compagnie de Marie : 81, 98, 109, 138, 144, 186, 193»; the t.10 index lists her as «Leontievna (Marie)» and her father as «Elsnitz (baron)» (see the RSR note at 071/1877-05-14).

What the diary gives: she had been governess at Mme Anitchkoff's, and is the daughter «d'un baron Oelsnitz, (un de ces barons allemands, dont la Russie regorge)», who left home because of her stepmother's intrigues; she had been in love with Walitsky, and nursed grand-papa through his eye operation of May 1877, which made her «en quelque sorte … une des nôtres» (082.0150, 19 August 1878). Marie takes her on so as not to go out alone or with a maid.

Marie and Mlle Oelsnitz

• 1878. She joins the household in August (082.0150); faints at the drunken scenes made beside a dead father's body, «un semblable manque de respect envers un père mort» (082.0229, in the days after grand-papa's death); waits up for Marie's brother Paul, out all night, with supper and tea «dans son innocence» (083.0403).
• 1879–1881. She chaperones Marie on her outings and carries her messages, for instance to Gambetta with a letter of the Princess Eristoff (carnets 084–085). Marie finds her dull and, at times, unbearable («La petite Oelsnitz me rend la vie amère»).
• June 1881. Marie writes to her from Russia (092.0090).
• August 1881. Marie plans to paint her, but she is leaving in two days (092.0395); her departure is told on 18 August: «voilà déjà longtemps qu'elle veut s'en aller … la pauvre enfant est à bout de forces, elle s'ennuie à mourir» (093.0001).

Sources

• Mon Journal (Cercle des Amis de Marie Bashkirtseff), t.14 index; t.10 index as cited in 071/1877-05-14.
• The diary, carnets 071, 082–093.