Julie interrupted her diary at the end of 1899, probably because, now engaged to Ernest, she was far too busy preparing for her forthcoming marriage. The unusual double wedding of Julie to Ernest and of Jeannie to Paul was apparently a very jolly affair and had its comical moments: the elderly gardeners and servants from Le Mesnil, especially invited to come up to Paris for the occasion but unaware of the protocol, were discovered devouring the wedding breakfast that had been invitingly laid out before the ceremony; then, in the church469 the seating plans ran amok when the Mesnil contingent sat in the seats reserved for the bridal couples at the altar instead of in the pews.
After all the festivities, Julie and Ernest made their way to Saint-Valéry-en-Caux in Normandy, a small fishing port and popular seaside resort between Fécamp and Dieppe, often painted by Jongkind and Isabey. Berthe Morisot had painted a portrait of her sister Edma in 1873 on the cliffs of the Petites Dalles nearby.470 Un endroit absolument sinistre471 was Julie’s verdict on this coastal village recommended by Degas, who was not a great traveller himself, hating both the country and the seaside! Meanwhile, the Valérys were honeymooning in Brussels and Amsterdam and the appeal of a cultural jaunt soon made Julie and Ernest waste no more time in joining them in an improvised honeymoon-à-quatre. But soon they all were suffering remorse at having left Paule on her own in Paris and invited her along too. Apparently this honeymoon-à-cinq was a great success and they returned refreshed and happy to pursue their artistic careers. Julie and Ernest moved into the fourth-floor apartment at the rue de Villejust, while Paule, Jeannie and her husband remained on the third floor.
Julie, Ernest and their son Julien, in the garden in the grounds of La Queue-en-Brie in 1901
Ernest Rouart and his three sons c. 1916
Julie and her second son Clément in 1906, in a photograph taken by Ernest
Eventually, the Rouarts did undertake the restoration and redecoration of the Château du Mesnil, as Julie had wished. Julie and Ernest both painted murals in the ground-floor salons. She brought up her three sons – Julien, Clément and Denis – there, sharing her time between the château and the rue de Villejust for the remainder of her life. She entertained lifelong friends like Jeanne Baudot and made many new friends among the young artists and poets of the period. Ernest was called up during World War I and served in the army, but, after being gassed on the front in 1917, his health was seriously affected and he became a semi-invalid for the rest of his life.
Ernest and Julie helped organize many important exhibitions, including the centenary exhibition for Manet at the Tuileries in 1932, the Degas exhibition in 1937, and the important Berthe Morisot show of 1941. Ernest and Julie, although very busy with their three growing sons, tried to paint every day. Julie even tried new techniques; the most successful of these was perhaps the series of plates she decorated towards the end of her life. Her god-daughter, Agathe Valéry-Rouart,472 remembers her as a kind, quiet but serious woman who spoke very slowly and deliberately about art and literature. Her husband, on the other hand, was of a nervous and quick-tempered disposition – a true Rouart. After his death in 1942, Julie continued to live as before, surrounded by her children and grandchildren, until she herself died peacefully in 1966. She had resumed her diary again soon after her marriage but it was no longer the day-to-day journal of a young Parisian girl in the 1890s, and more an introspective reflection on life as she became an increasingly devout and fervent Catholic.
Madame Julie Rouart and Madame Jeannie Valéry, still the best of friends, in the early 1960s
