Comtesse Acard (Mme Justine Couvelet)

Overview

The mother of Julia Acard, and so the mother-in-law of Paul de Cassagnac. Formerly the comtesse Acard, she married M. Couvelet, a former officer, a week before her daughter's wedding to Cassagnac in June 1878 (085.0231; the wedding report with the witnesses «M. Couvelet, ancien officier, et M. Clément Laurier» is pasted in 081/1878-06-28). The index of Mon Journal t.13 has «Acard (Mme Justine) épouse Couvelet : 28-29, 41, 294» and «Couvelet (Mme Justine) ex épouse Acard : 28, 46, 51, 56, 62, 74, 77, 80, 109, 294»; her husband is «Couvelet-Berthault (Jules-Louis) : 28, 56, 109, 294».

Not to be confused with «la mère Couvelet» / «le père Couvelet» of the joke correspondence between Marie and Bojidar from 30 June 1879 (085.0478; index: «Couvelet Père : surnom du Prince Karageorgevitch Bojidar», «Couvelet Mère : signature de Marie Bashkirtseff dans sa correspondance avec Bojidar»), whose name was probably taken from hers. The stub COUVELET is used for the husband, the family and the joke alike.

Relevance to Marie

Marie's contempt for Cassagnac's marriage extends to his wife's family.

• 1879-06-06 (085.0229): Marie meets «la comtesse Acard mère» at Ferry's, the bootmaker: «Cette vieille guenille commandait des sabots en chevreau jaune garnis d'épis et de fleurs des champs».
• 1879-06-06 (085.0231): «l'ancienne comtesse Acard, actuellement Mme Couvelet, est charmante et élégante et que sa fille l'est bien moins… ce même Couvelet qui huit jours avant avait épousé la mère qui avait eu pour témoin son futur gendre: Paul de Cassagnac».
• 1879-06-07 (085.0242, 0245): «Cette honteuse belle-mère».
• 1879-06-21 (085.0424): the Prince Imperial's death «recule au loin ou… avance très fort le moment ou Mme Couvelet sera reçue à la cour».

Name and title

• First name: Justine (0.8). The Mon Journal t.11 index has «Acard (Justine, baronne) : 219, 235, 290» and the t.13 index «Acard (Mme Justine) épouse Couvelet»; genealogies give the mother of Julia Acard as Justine Schwoehrer (Geneanet family trees; Généalogie et Histoire de la Caraïbe, 2013 article on the Guadeloupe branch of the Granier de Cassagnac). The t.12 index alone has «Acard (Mme Catherine) : 16-17, 23-24 …» for the same woman; that name is not found elsewhere and may be an index slip or a second name.
• Title: comtesse in the press (Le Figaro, 28 June 1878: «fille du comte et de la comtesse Stéphano Acard», 081.0093) and in Marie's own later entries («la comtesse Acard mère», «l'ancienne comtesse Acard», 085.0229, 085.0231); «la baronne Acard» once (079.0507, 22 April 1878, Marie repeating Blanc's gossip), which the t.11 index follows. Whether the title was genuine is not established: the t.12 index calls her late husband «Acard Stéphano (Jean Alexandre), notaire» (STEPHANO_ACARD), and the genealogies give his death as 1874.
• Second husband: Jules-Louis Couvelet(-Berthault), «ancien officier», a witness at Julia's wedding (081.0093), married a week before it (085.0231).

References in Diary

• First mentioned: 1878-04-22 (079.0507, «la baronne Acard»)
• 1879-06-06 (085.0229)
• Key entries: 085.0231, 085.0424