Papa (Constantin Bashkirtseff)

> Disambiguation -- who is "papa"? In the Nice household (1873--1877) Marie's bare "papa" is almost always her maternal grandfather, Stepan Babanine -- see #Grand_papa. Her father Constantin is "mon père", "mon (cher / auguste / illustre / honorable) père" or "mon pater". Marie calls him "Papa" only when she is with him: his Nice visit of Nov 1873 (013.0076, 013.0083, 013.0099), Poltava and Gavronzi in Jul--Oct 1876 (carnets 064--066), and Paris in Nov 1876 (067.1054). This entry is for Constantin only. Tag the grandfather's "papa" as #Grand_papa, not #Papa. Other "papas" of 1875--76: old M. d'Audiffret (049.0305, 050.0122--0502), operetta refrains, other people's fathers. The per-occurrence tables are in `.claude/reports/papa-referent-2026-09-26.md`.

Who he was

Konstantin (Constantin) Pavlovich Bashkirtseff (Bashkirtsev, 1833--1883) was Marie Bashkirtseff's father, a landowner of Gavronzi near Poltava (then in the Russian Empire, now Ukraine) and a local marshal of the nobility (English Wikipedia, "Marie Bashkirtseff"; the Ukrainian Wikipedia article calls him head of the Poltava gentry). Both dates are from Kernberger (2013, Appendix I, Glossary: "Bashkirtseff, Constantine: Marie's father (1833-1883), separated from mother"); no second source for either was found. His own father was General Paul Grigorievitch Bashkirtseff (#Paul_Grigorievitch_Bashkirtseff, a veteran of 1812 per the Ukrainian Wikipedia article). Marie says "mon père est maréchal de noblesse" (023.0646) and "mon honorable père, maréchal de noblesse" (030.0127). He married #Maman (Maria Stepanovna Babanina) and was the father of Marie (b. 1858) and #Paul (b. 1859).

The marriage failed early. The date of the separation is not given in the diary: Marie counts "vingt ans" of separation in 1883 (099.0110) and 1884 (106.0057), i.e. about 1863; English Wikipedia says "when she was 12", which the diary contradicts; one biography places it as early as 1859. He and his father twice tried to recover Maria: at one point he took the children to Gavronzi and hid them, until Maria and her brothers fetched them by force (000.0013). A story told on 1 September 1873 has Marie Ivanovna Perlik warning Marie's mother, before the wedding, not to marry Bashkirtseff because he already had a mistress with children (diary, 1873-09-01; Kernberger 2013).

In the diary, 1873--1875

1876--1877: Poltava, Gavronzi, Paris, Rome

1878--1881

On 22 December 1878 "Monsieur mon père est arrivé" in Paris (083.0430). A week later Marie writes down what he had told her in Russia in 1876, when "on vient de dire que tu es de sept mois, mais ce n'est pas vrai" (083.0510; she tells the story again on 12 April 1883, 099.0112--0114): that she was born at full term, "après le mariage il est vrai". In March 1880 he arrived at the church with a letter from the archbishop as Paul and his fiancée entered to be married (087.0590; see #Paul); a few days later he proposed that Paul go and ask for the girl's hand officially (087.0611). In the spring of 1881 he was in Paris and urged Ma tante to bring the family to Russia (091.0480); Marie, hesitating, wrote about the plan (091.0540) and was left behind on 23 May when the others went to the station and she missed the train (092.0043), but was at Gavronzi by 29 May: "Mon père très heureux mais un peu confus de voir le triste effet que me fait ce pays, après cinq ans" (092.0071). In July he asked her why she was in such a hurry to leave (092.0169). He and Maman had been reconciled at Gavronzi in the winter of 1880--81 (091.0191); on 2 February 1882 "Maman et papa sont arrivés" at Nice (094.0223).

1882--1884

1882. In early July Marie sends him an "horrible billet"; he answers by telegram that he had not asked her to explain anything (095.0240). In October she goes to Gavronzi: a wolf hunt on 23 October (nine wolves and a fox, 096.0428), a night fire in the outbuildings that Papa, Paul and the police help to put out (096.0440), and on 29 October the christening of Paul's newborn son, who was given the name Constantin, with Marie and her father as godparents (096.0459). Before the journey home he is "vraiment trop malade pour voyager seul" and the departure is put off (097.0022); Marie: "Papa, si je dis papa c'est que c'est court mais nullement par affection" (097.0029). Passing through Berlin, a Prussian nobleman's bouquets and carriage "ont produit un grand effet sur papa" (097.0077).

Paris, winter 1882--83. Constantin lives with the family, ill and often difficult: on 2 December he shouts at Marie for speaking sharply to Maman and Ma tante (097.0184--0185), and in January he goes with them to the Opéra (097.0419). Marie makes peace on 11 February 1883 because he is "très malade" and Maman says she may regret it: "Alors je vais dans sa chambre et je lui dis bonjour et tout est dit" (098.0320--0321). On 26 February Paul and the Princess Eristoff arrive from Russia on Marie's telegram (098.0412). On 1 March she calls him "un homme désagréable et méchant" who is "arrogant, cassant, impertinent" towards the people Maman has won over (098.0437--0438). He leaves on 11 March with his sister and Paul: "Quelle chance" (098.0477); Marie adds that he "a mangé plus d'un million" and in Poltava had never known anyone but "trois ivrognes et six bourgeoises" (098.0480).

Illness and death. On 12 April 1883 two telegrams from Poltava say he is gravely ill (099.0110). In the same pages Marie sets down what she resents most: that on her first journey to Russia in 1876, when she was seventeen, he had made "des allusions sur le compte de maman ... des choses vraiment abominables" (099.0112). Maman leaves on 13 May and arrives to find him dying (099.0439, 099.0502). The telegram announcing his death reached Paris on Monday 11 June 1883: "Mon père est mort" (100.0130). The date 11 June is also Kernberger's date of death; the diary only says the dispatch came that morning at ten, so the death itself may be a day or two earlier. Marie: "Il n'avait que cinquante ans, tant souffrir !.. Et n'avoir en somme fait de mal à personne: très aimé chez lui, parfaitement honorable, probe, ennemi de tout tripotage et très bon garçon" (100.0136). Kernberger gives Gavronzi as the place of death. He left debts of 140,000 roubles, which once paid would leave "cinquante ou soixante mille roubles" for the heirs (100.0204).

What Marie made of him. On 13 June she writes pages of reproach and regret: "Sa nature m'était très sympathique, bien plus que celle de maman, et il s'est plu à se rendre ... indifférent et souvent détesté" (100.0146); in Paris he had threatened to hit her, "tu verras ce que je te ferai" (100.0147); "J'aurais pu l'aimer beaucoup, beaucoup, mais ça et cette histoire sur maman" (100.0149). A month later: "lorsqu'il était aimable, il était amusant; un certain esprit, assez blagueur, il avait beaucoup de moi" (100.0343). On 21--26 September 1883, after Paul's visit and a long evening of family memories, she reverses: "Il m'aimait même plus que Paul, car je flattais sa vanité ... et je lui ressemblais" (101.0418); "Je me prends d'une espèce de tendresse pour ce père mort" (101.0443); "je n'ai pas fait mon devoir. Il fallait le faire" (101.0453) -- though she also blames the family, who, she says, had thought only of not disturbing the daily routine -- and "car c'était mon devoir d'aller vers mon père mourant" (101.0452).

17 September 1884. Six weeks before her own death Marie's diary turns back to him: "Il se passe peu de jours sans que je sois tourmentée par le souvenir de mon père ... J'aurais dû partir et le soigner jusqu'à la fin. Il n'a rien dit, parce qu'il était comme moi; mais il a dû sentir cruellement mon absence" (106.0053--0054), and her mother "ne parle même pas convenablement de son mari" (106.0057).

Related entries

Sources