Coat of arms of Nice, drawn in ink (1876)

Overview

On 5 February 1876 (053.0408) Marie copies out two letters, one of them "l'ancien couronnement de la Rosière", the mock proclamation she had written for #Emile_d_Audiffret and not yet sent. She only had to change the dates; she fixed the ceremony for 22 May, "jour du Saint-Emile", signed it "Les citoyens de la ville de Nice", and "en dessous j'ai dessiné à l'encre les armes de Nice, un aigle couronné sur trois collines avec cette inscription: Nicae Civitas." The drawing was thus a small heraldic vignette, an eagle on three hills in ink, serving as the "seal" of the joke. It is a decoration on a letter, not an independent artwork; it was probably sent with the letter, and nothing of it is known to survive. No image.

Marie and this work

The Rosière joke is part of her campaign of anonymous letters and mockery against Audiffret in the winter of 1875-76: in November 1875 she had written him that he would "ne [sera] jamais couronné rosière" (050.0063, 050.0065) and in the 25 November entry mentions "la lettre du couronnement par M. le souffleur du Théâtre français, que je n'ai pas encore envoyée" (050.0202). On 5 February she is copying earlier letters ("il n'y avait qu'à changer les dates"). A rosière is the most virtuous girl of a village, crowned with roses (prize tradition per the project footnote, 053.0408); the eagle on three hills is the heraldic charge of the arms of Nice in her description, which this entry does not verify against an external source.

References in Diary

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