Pincio (Pintchik), Marie's dog

Overview

Pincio, «blanc comme la neige» (067.1394), the small white dog Marie took a fancy to in Rome in 1876 and named after the Pincio gardens («à Rome, je me suis toquée d'un autre chien», 104.0518); «un petit chien romain, chien loup; blanc comme la neige, les oreilles droites, des yeux et un nez noirs comme de l'encre» (075.0441); the household also called him «Pintchik» («le pauvre petit Pincio dit Pintchik», 071.0392). He was stolen in Paris at the beginning of March 1878 and never found. Mon Journal indexes: t.8 p.171, t.10–t.13.

In Marie's diary

• 1876: «je donnerais Victor et Pincio, pour revoir Antonelli» (062.0355); at Nice in December, «Victor avec sa grosse tête noire, Pincio blanc comme la neige, Bagatelle, Prater» (067.1394).
• 1877, Nice: bitten in a dog fight (071.0392); she skates with him in her arms (071.0475) and plays with him in the water at the Bains Georges (071.0588); he poses with her at Biensmüller's in Italian costume with a mandolin (072.0035), sits «au milieu du satin bleu et de dentelle blanche» (072.0192), mimics her kneeling at prayer (072.0002).
• 1877, Schlangenbad and Paris: he hunts hens in the villages on a drive (074.0219) and is set on Prater and Walitsky in her pranks (074.0250); in Paris Breslau draws him at Marie's feet (076.0061) and Amélie paints his portrait (076.0139); lost in the street in October 1877, he went back to wait for her at the studio, where he used to go with her (075.0441–075.0459).
• March 1878, Paris: «Depuis samedi mon chien est perdu» (078.0393); she offers two hundred francs' reward in the Figaro (078.0425) and writes «On vient de me voler mon chien blanc, Pincio» (078.0426); «Moi je donnerais bien la vie de Cassagnac pour revoir Pincio» (078.0506). She swears «sur la tête de Pincio» that she will be famous (079.0355).
• Later: «Walitsky y est mort, Pincio y a été perdu» of the apartment (082.0142); «D'abord Pincio 1, puis Coco I» in the list of lost dogs (085.0612); in June 1884 she remembers him again (104.0518).