On the title page, Julie wrote:
I have often wanted to keep a diary, so I think I’ll start one now. I suppose I might have left it rather late, but the longer I wait the later it will be – and, after all, I’m still only 14.
THURSDAY, 24 AUGUST
This morning we all got ready to go to Fontainebleau. We left at 2 o’clock, crossed Paris, and arrived at the Gare de Lyon with Octavie,31 who’d come to take Laertes32 home if ever they wouldn’t allow him on the train with us. Thankfully, we found a special compartment for passengers with dogs.
The train set off, going past Charenton, and we glimpsed the lovely greenish colour of the Marne; then a small lake or was it just a pond as blue as the Mediterranean. Such pretty countryside!
At half past four, we arrived at Fontainebleau, where all the drivers were touting for business and hailed a carriage to take us to Valvins Hotel where we were staying, then went to meet Monsieur Mallarmé,33 who lives on the other side of the bridge from our hotel, which is in fact in what is called Valvins-les-Bains because it is so close to the banks of the Seine. Monsieur Mallarmé took us to where the forest begins. Madame and Mademoiselle Mallarmé were there already and we dined outdoors on the terrace of an inn under some trees right on the banks of the Seine. I went to bed in a tiny room with a view over the river.
FRIDAY, 25 AUGUST
We got up late and drank our café au lait on the terrace, then took a walk in the forest near the old railway tracks where Laertes was so happy to be able to run about. Then Monsieur Mallarmé came to collect us for a walk along the other side of the Seine. Supper on the terrace again. Today, Maman and I both began studies of the view from our windows and of Monsieur Mallarmé’s boat.
SUNDAY, 27 AUGUST
We have been moved to a bigger room with two windows on the Seine. After a walk in the grounds of the Chateau de Fontainebleau,34 we returned to Valvins35 in a magnificent four-seater carriage with cushions of white silk. In the afternoon, we continued our paintings of views from the window, and towards 5’clock as we were going out, we bumped into Monsieur Mallarmé on the road which leads to the inn. He was with two young chaps who were visiting: one an actor friend of Rossignol;36 the other one called Mauclair,37 who was very handsome, with long locks of hair on his forehead.
Monsieur Mallarmé pointed them in the direction of Fontainebleau and sent them on their way; then we went to sit down with him on a bench in front of his house. Madame and Mademoiselle Mallarmé had gone to pay a visit to some acquaintances in Samois in their little trap and a horse they had hired for the day. When Maman asked Monsieur Mallarmé whether the locals were nice, he replied to our great amusement that a drunkard from a neighbouring village, Samoreau, was often to be seen under the Valvins bridge howling: ‘Mallarmé is my brother, he is my lucky mascot; when I am upset,I think of him and at once feel better! They don’t make ’em like that anymore!’ When Mademoiselle Geneviève got back, I went for a short walk with her. She took me to Vulaines. Every window has boxes of flowers in this village and the church is surrounded by juniper bushes, dear little firs and green trees. We took a road back through some vineyards with a beautiful view of the forest. She was wearing a green checked dress and a big hat with streamers.
Maman and I went back to the inn for supper. We were afraid that it would be crowded like last Friday evening when a rowdy group of young people dining at the water’s edge sang out of tune and made a frightful racket blowing hunting horns between each course. The service here is very slow and they even contrived yesterday not to give us what was on the menu, but Maman complained to the proprietor and now it is much improved. From my bed I watched a firework display on the other side of the Seine.
MONDAY, 28 AUGUST
Laertes is terribly badly behaved. He puts his paws on all the tables and begs for food. He gets a lot of compliments because the hotel guests think he is very pretty and distinguished.
Berthe Morisot and her daughter spent most of their time at Valvins painting and going for walks and outings by carriage with the Mallarmé family.
WEDNESDAY, 30 AUGUST
We spent the morning painting in the forest near the place where we were yesterday. After lunch we went by carriage to fetch Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle Mallarmé. Maman, Monsieur and Madame Mallarmé took the big carriage and I went with Mademoiselle Geneviève in her trap. She has hired a quite good-tempered horse for a month as from yesterday. We took Laertes with us at first, but he started howling horribly so he had to go in the big carriage. We went for a lovely outing. First we went to Queen Amélie’s belvedere, then to the calvary at the Roche Éponge from where one has a lovely view of Fontainebleau. After the Mont Chauvet and the racecourse, we stopped near the big rocks. Monsieur Mallarmé had brought tea, some very delicious little cakes made by Mademoiselle Geneviève which I love. We came back by the Fouteau woods, where there are magnificent trees, and saw an oak and a beech growing from the same roots and other oddities like that. I think that our trip has made Laertes quite peculiar, and when he heard Maman returning he nearly jumped out of the window. Mademoiselle Geneviève is really nice to me and doesn’t seem to mind the company of a silly 14-year-old little girl: She even said I could call her Geneviève.
THURSDAY, 31 AUGUST
We painted in the forest all morning. In the afternoon Monsieur Mallarmé came to invite Maman to go boating and she accepted the invitation although there was practically no wind. Monsieur Mallarmé’s boat is very shiny and the hull is painted light green; the sail is a pretty shape with a little flag on the mast with his initials ‘S.M.’ Lovely weather since we’ve been here.
FRIDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER
This morning we went for a delightful walk to Thomery. We followed the Seine as far as the village, sometimes walking beneath the trees, sometimes in the sunshine, on a grassy path filled with meadow-saffron, mallows, mint, and other pretty flowers. We passed by a large property with magnificent trees, some weeping willows mirrored in the Seine where there are lilies and other water flowers. Opposite, I could see Samoreau on its little hill. We came back by the same route and I picked a lovely bunch of flowers. In the afternoon, it rained a little, so we did some watercolours from our windows.
Maman is painting two blonde sisters, who are very sweet. The older one must be 16 and the younger one 11. One always wears blue and the other pink. They wear berets or big straw hats and seem to adore their father; but as for their mother, she spends the whole day fishing and seems to think of nothing else but her fish.
SATURDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER
This morning we finished our studies in the Forest and in the afternoon went to the Château de Fontainebleau with Monsieur and Mademoiselle Mallarmé in their carriage. It was a bit small for four passengers and the back seat where Mademoiselle Mallarmé and I were sitting kept falling off.
Julie goes on to describe the château in great detail with its salons and apartments, furnishings, tapestries and decorations, especially impressed by the council chamber decorated by Boucher and van Loo with cameos in blue and pink on panels and paintings on the ceiling, devoted to Love, which she found particularly delightful.
This morning we went on an excursion into the countryside, but the weather was horrid and gloomy. In the afternoon we stayed at the hotel painting and I did the Valvins bridge and the fireworks from memory. We then went to see Monsieur Mallarmé in his study, which is decorated with rush matting and Japanese things, as well as brown material with roses on it.
As we wanted to send a basket of grapes to my godfather,38 Madame Mallarmé took us to see a countrywoman, Madame Badet, who told us to come back tomorrow so that we could watch the grapes being picked.
MONDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER
This morning we went to paint watercolours of the Cassepot rocks and I was able to use red lead to show the burnt trees. We packed our case before lunch and afterwards went to Monsieur Mallarmé’s, then to Madame Badet’s. Her grapes were very good. Monsieur and Madame Mallarmé came with us as far as the inn and stayed with us until our departure in a carriage with a horse which looked like a skeleton. We took an express train and arrived in Paris quite quickly. In a carriage on our way home we went past a lovely old house on the quai. We arrived in time for dinner. Octavie was very pleased to see us, but Laertes didn’t even deign to say hello to her.
THURSDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER
We went to see Tante Suzanne39 at Gennevilliers. I found her much better this time. I took Laertes along so he could become better acquainted with Follette, who is even uglier than I thought she was. We didn’t stay at Tante Suzanne’s for long, as we had come by carriage and were going home the same way. After getting back from Gennevilliers, we set off for the Bois with our coloured crayons.40 At the entrance to the Bois we met my godfather in a carriage. We started by drawing people who were going by on the road around the lake while sitting on a lawn right beside the road, on the Pré-Catelan side. Maman and I were sitting very close to each other, with her bag between us on the ground and Laertes in front. All of sudden a suspicious-looking man in black with a horrible yellow face approached us, stroked Laertes, then, with a hideous bony hand, grabbed the bag and ran off in the direction of the Pré-Catelan. We both started screaming. Maman had tried to stop him by throwing her penknife and gloves at him without even thinking of the danger. Needless to say, there was no one about at the time.
I ran off to tell the first person I could find, who happened to be a man from the restaurant who was watering plants. He nodded stupidly and said, ‘Oh dear, really?’
In Maman’s bag there was a purse with only 6 francs 50 in it, but what was much more annoying is that we lost the bunch of keys on which there were both front-door keys, the keys to the secretaire where we keep the silver and those of the desk where the money and jewellery are kept. We were utterly shaken by the experience – apparently I was as white as a sheet and could feel myself trembling. Maman spoke to a park-keeper who was at the top of the lake. He began by saying that the place where we were was not his responsibility, but he took our address and we described the thief to him. When we got home, Maman told the police about it, and a person overhearing the story said to Maman, ‘I am sure you knew him.’
FRIDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER
This morning I sat for Maman, who is doing my portrait.41 In the afternoon we went to Durand-Ruel’s gallery where there were quite a lot of pictures hanging, all of which I had seen before except three by Puvis de Chavannes.42
Having heard that Monsieur Renoir43 was in town, we climbed all the way up to Montmartre where his house44 is on the off chance we might see him. There is a spectacular view from up there. Monsieur and Madame Renoir were out but we were entertained in the garden by Pierre,45 who was very friendly. He wanted to show us his father’s paintings but said his father now had two studios, one a bit lower down the hill, and the one at home for when Monsieur Renoir had a cold.
After a while Madame Renoir came home. She took us up to the studio and showed us the landscapes Monsieur Renoir had done in Brittany. At first sight, they produce rather an odd effect on the eye; they always have loads of sunshine and trees done with crimson lake, emerald green and antimony yellow. As one looks at them, however, one begins to find them rather lovely. Monsieur Renoir returned very late and he took us to the other studio at the foot of Montmartre.46 It was past seven by the time we left and we had spent more than two hours with him. He is coming to supper tomorrow.
SATURDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER
Maman worked on my portrait a good part of the morning.In the afternoon, we went to Suresnes by boat, to see Maître Fermé’s.47 The Seine was very pretty; so was Saint-Cloud, which could be seen very clearly with its steeple. We came back on foot through the Bois where there were newly-weds everywhere, which was most amusing. All these rather ordinary people seemed to be thrilled to bits to be in a carriage in the Bois de Boulogne for the one and only time in their lives.
We had a little rest near the Longchamp Racecourse painted so well by Oncle Edouard,48 with Saint-Cloud in the distance. While we were there, we bumped into Docteur Evans,49 who is always so very friendly. Three ‘Quakeresses’50 went by in a carriage, all of them very ugly with their huge black veils. There was something frightening, almost ghostlike, about them. Returning along the avenue des Acacias, we saw what little that is left of elegant Parisian society.
Monsieur Renoir arrived very late for dinner, with his portrait of Wagner51 tucked under his arm. He was on his way back from Madame de Bonnières52 and had got lost in the avenues around Les Invalides. He was carrying Wagner’s portrait because a gentleman had asked him for a copy of it, but he didn’t know how to go about it. After dinner we looked at the portrait, which is really wonderful. Maman talked about Valvins with Monsieur Renoir, who said that he would come with us if we went back again, since he hasn’t been asked to the Limousin. He had been half-invited once by Monsieur Haviland.53
Monsieur Renoir isn’t particularly inspired by Delacroix’s Journal 54 either.
SUNDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER
Today, we went to the Louvre, where we looked at Renaissance sculpture, some lovely things by Jean Goujon and Germain Pilon, tombs, busts and a statue of Diane de Poitiers with a greyhound with a fancy collar that I would like for Laertes!
MONDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER
I painted flowers all morning then practised my violin for the first time for over a month.
TUESDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER
This morning, we went to Paris to see Monsieur Morize, then went shopping to buy a new collar for Laertes which is a bit like Diane de Poitiers’. They are going to demolish the Dome of the rue Pergolèse:55 we must hurry to paint it; so I bought two small canvasses specially with Octavie. Laertes looks very handsome in his new collar.
FRIDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER
Supper with my godfather, who told us that the grapes we had sent him from Valvins had arrived all rotten and inedible (a funny way to thank us!).
MONDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER
Got to Valvins towards the middle of the day. Mademoiselle Geneviève was asleep in a hammock in the garden, and she was very surprised to see us. We went for a lovely walk with Monsieur Mallarmé by the Seine.
MONDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER
Really lovely walk in the forest of ash trees to a clearing which Monsieur Mallarmé calls the ‘Ballroom’, where he says he will one day hold his daughter’s wedding. The huge pale trunks rising from the russet of the fallen leaves.
THURSDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER
This evening Monsieur Mallarmé told us some funny stories: Madame de Banville56 invited the family for supper on the last Friday of the month. So they got all dressed up and made their way to their house. Monsieur Mallarmé said he would arrive a bit later. They were astonished to find Monsieur de Banville in a Madras turban and a fur-lined dressing gown sitting by the fire with his wife drinking soup from a large tureen. There were five Fridays that month! The Mallarmé ladies tried to leave immediately but Monsieur de Banville insisted they stay, although his wife looked very put out and the cats had made the most of the commotion to get up on the table and drink from the tureen! Monsieur Mallarmé then arrived, saying ‘I am not even late this time!’ ‘Eight days actually’ was the answer but they all stayed to supper after all!
One day Gyp57 came to visit de Banville and Madame de Banville opened the door. Gyp asked for Monsieur de Banville and Madame answered ‘That’s me!’ Gyp retorted ‘I didn’t know de Banville was a pseudonym’, whereupon Madame de Banville replied ‘Yes, Monsieur de Banville is just an old woman’ and slammed the door in her face!
SATURDAY, 7 OCTOBER
Jeanne and Blanche58 had lunch at our house and during the day I went for a walk with them. They seem to find coming back to Paris rather miserable. They are living in the rue Mignard. After dinner I groomed Laertes’s coat.
THURSDAY, 12 OCTOBER
I got up terribly late and practised the violin the whole morning, then went to Passy with Paule and Jeannie59 to Aunt Edma’s, then on to Aunt Chevalier, Aunt Félicie, Madame Camat, all of whom were out. Octavie finally came to collect me from Aunt Edma. Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle Mallarmé are coming to dinner on Saturday with Monsieur Renoir, who was coming tonight but prefers to postpone because Pierre is poorly.
FRIDAY, 13 OCTOBER
This morning Maman worked on the portrait of me playing the violin and I sat for two hours.
After lunch we went to fetch Paule and Jeannie so that they could spend the day with us and have dinner. Eugénie60 is also coming for dinner with Octavie, bringing the fish which she was going to cook. Jeannie and I have been copying the portrait of Bon Papa and Bonne Maman61 by Oncle Edouard. I started mine in the spring, but it’s not making much progress. Jeannie is reading the life of Villiers de l’Isle-Adam.62 She has read some quite amusing passages from it to me.
WEDNESDAY, 18 OCTOBER
Played the violin with Blanche and Jeannie; it was pretty awful. Blanche plays well but lacks breadth in her style. I have done absolutely nothing so far today – it seems to me that the days are too short. I am making a resolution to get up earlier tomorrow, to work, and to be nice to Maman. I plan to practise the violin more, do lots of scales, and learn to play with more gusto.
THURSDAY, 19 OCTOBER
The Gabriel Thomas63 children came to sit for Maman, Charles’s head in pastel, Jeanine was frightfully naughty. I played my violin for two hours and my composition to Monsieur Rossignol,64 who took it away to correct but added four pages so it is no longer my own! After dinner, we all went to the Place de la Concorde to watch the torch-lit parade. We waited a long time and it was cold and we were half-asleep so we took a carriage home before we were able to see anything. We got to bed at past midnight and we made hot tea to warm up. Marcel was very hungry, as usual; he said he wanted some meat. We didn’t get to bed until 1 am!!
FRIDAY, 20 OCTOBER
Monsieur, Madame Renoir and Pierre came to lunch so they could see the Russians65 go past on the avenue du Bois. We had to wait a very long time for them, and they weren’t especially interesting when they did arrive. We didn’t have lunch until half past one. There wasn’t a huge crowd on the avenue. A few labourers in white shirts had climbed up on ladders, and looked like weird statues. Some others were offering clapped-out wheelbarrows for hire and were screaming: ‘One franc for a place in my elegant carriage.’ People weren’t really shouting ‘Vive la Russie!’ much. As it was gone half past two by the time we got up from table, we just had a cup of hot chocolate in the evening and went to bed quite early.
SUNDAY, 22 OCTOBER
Today, I went with Paule, Jeannie and Marcel to the funeral of Maréchal Mac Mahon.66 We arrived a bit late, but despite that we were able to find seats on some planks which had been stretched between packing cases so that we could see the whole parade ground of the Invalides where the troops were marching past Mac Mahon’s body, while the Gardes de Paris prevented the crowds from breaking ranks and from time to time even charged on them.
The ceremony was very beautiful. The ‘Porte Napoleon’ was draped in black crêpe with a simple silver fringe and the Maréchal’s sword and flags. The railings in front also had flags on them and right next to them was Maréchal Mac Mahon’s coffin covered with a great black flag. Général Lancier, mounted on a very fine horse, took the march past and could be seen from afar thanks to his helmet decorated with white feathers.
The crowd on ladders and planks had only one real desire – to see the Russians. They were mistaking the French for Russians. As they left, a few kids shouted ‘Long live the Russians!’ Then lots of husbands lifted up their wives so they could see them properly while magistrates in red or black robes paraded slowly by. We were able to see the wreaths, the beautiful French one composed of roses, dahlias, heliotropes, asters and carnations. The one from the Queen of England was also pretty, with Parma violets.
The Maréchal had a funeral worthy of his importance. I had never seen such an impressive ceremony before. The sarcopha-gus, which was fairly simple, was pulled by six horses with black plumes on their heads. The gas lamps, which were lit and covered with crêpe, looked very smart. The day was fine, the sun warm.
MONDAY, 30 OCTOBER
We left early this morning for Giverny.67 It rained all day. Monsieur Monet68 showed us his ‘cathedrals’.69 There are 26 of them: they’re magnificent, some all purple, others white, yellow with a blue sky, pink with a greenish sky; then one in the fog, two or three in shadow at the bottom and lit with rays of sunshine on the towers. These cathedrals, admirably drawn, are painted in very broad strokes, and yet one can see every detail. It seems so hard to me not to draw all the details. These pictures by Monsieur Monet certainly are an excellent lesson in painting. The house has changed since the last time we visited Giverny. Monsieur Monet has made himself a bedroom above the studio, with big pitch-pine windows, doors and floor and white walls. In this room, he has hung lots of paintings, among them: Isabelle combing her hair, Gabrielle at the basin, Cocotte with a hat on, a pastel of Maman’s, a pastel by Oncle Edouard, a very attractive nude by Monsieur Renoir, some Pissarros, etc.
Madame Monet’s bedroom has blue panelling; those of the Misses Blanche and Germaine are mauve. We didn’t see Mademoiselle Marthe’s bedroom. Mademoiselle Blanche70 showed us some of her own paintings, which are a lovely colour; two of them of trees reflected in the River Epte are very like Monsieur Monet’s paintings.
The drawing room is panelled in violet, hung with lots of Japanese prints, as is the dining room, which is bright yellow. We walked beneath the poplars to see the greenhouse, where there are magnificent chrysanthemums. Then on to the orna-mental lake, across which is a green bridge that looks rather Japanese. Monsieur and Madame Butler71 came too – their little boy is sweet; he kept on trying to pull my hair (he’s only six months old).
We came home before dinner, still in the pouring rain, on the new line from Mantes to Argenteuil. I could just see the trees and roof of Le Mesnil72 in the darkness. I think it’s quite delightful to have a château one doesn’t even live in and to be able, from time to time, to see it from a train, appearing like a shadow in the night, and to say to oneself ‘It’s mine.’
WEDNESDAY, 1 NOVEMBER
All Saints’ Day, a sad day. A year ago we were at Tours, and in 1891 we still had Papa with us. How sad it is to lose a father, especially when one still lives at home, and never to see him again, never ever. Often, when I dream about Papa, I feel so unhappy when I wake up. I really need him here. I want to see him, to hear him, to speak to him, and be nice to him. Why can’t I be nicer to Maman? Every day, I chide myself about this, but don’t do enough about it.
THURSDAY, 2 NOVEMBER
Maman, Paule, Jeannie and I went to Saint-Germain this morning to hear a sung Mass for the dead. It was extremely beautiful: religious ceremonies are truly magnificent with the lovely voices which seem to float above the altar. It seems to me that, thanks to all these splendours, we get closer to the ones who have left us for eternal peace…
SUNDAY, 5 NOVEMBER
Maman, Jeannie, and I went to one of the Concerts Colonne73 today: they played a Beethoven symphony and then Mademoiselle Franck74 sang Schubert’s Erlkönig,75 but the orchestra drowned her voice. Then they played some Wagner and Gounod. I didn’t like Mademoiselle Pacary’s76 voice in the Reine de Saba77 at all. We walked back along the quais. The day was drawing to a close with a few gas lamps already alight; the old part of Paris, with its towers and steeples on the Seine, was as ravishing as ever.
Maman and I went to see my Oncle Parrain this morning. We hadn’t seen him since the arrival of the Russians. He actually looks quite well.78
THURSDAY, 9 NOVEMBER
Paule, Jeannie and Marcel79 came to dinner. We talked about Mademoiselle Bashkirtseff80 and how she used to write to all the well-known people. She even asked Alexandre Dumas to meet her at a rendezvous she had chosen. Our conversation got round to Jacques-Émile Blanche,81 who has given Maman absolutely no sign of life for some time; then on to Monsieur de Wyzewa,82 who last year rented a country house and then had to leave it, because according to him it was haunted. He never comes to visit us. We said goodbye to Marcel, who is off to Commercy on Saturday to do his military service. This year is a hard one for him.
FRIDAY, 10 NOVEMBER
Maman and I went to the Louvre – it was a rather gloomy day. We admired a Jordaens, The Childhood of Jupiter,83 which has recently been lowered. Then our eyes fell on a portrait by van Loo84 of a father with his little boy, which is beautiful. In the Salon Carré a funny little Japanese man was copying a Leonardo da Vinci, but in a completely Japanese style. It was most amusing.
Next, we visited my Oncle Parrain again; then went on to the Rudy Institute85 to see about French literature classes. The young lady who gives them is very pleasant. They’re held twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday, from two to four. We are to start on Tuesday. The piano lessons which Jeannie might be going to there are also on Tuesdays and at exactly the same time, so we would be able to travel together, which would be a help.
