Art is a Tyrant by Catherine Hewitt

Author:Catherine Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Rosa was happy to be able to hold Paris and all its foibles at arm’s length. She was among the celebrants when, in 1861, Emperor Napoleon III answered the appeal of Théodore Rousseau by decreeing that part of the Forest of Fontainebleau should become a nature preserve. Between Fontainebleau and Paris, there was no contest in Rosa’s heart.14

‘You couldn’t get her to come to Paris if she was in the midst of a study,’ observed Henri Cain.15

‘What bored her most was going to Paris,’ seconded one of her new neighbours, M. Grivot, ‘for it meant the discarding of trousers, smock, and felt hat, as well as the putting away of cigarettes, which she constantly smoked.’16

Rosa could now wait for Paris to come to her. She had the wherewithal to employ staff, not to mention accommodation to lodge them. And with Nathalie and Mme Micas overseeing the housekeeping and commandeering the kitchen, By was ripe for receiving carefully selected guests. Weekends were frequently given to lunching with friends or family.

‘We are counting on you for Saturday evening,’ Rosa instructed Juliette in a letter dated 1861. ‘I say we, because Mother Soup [Mme Micas] is grieved to the soul when she prepares a meal and the visitor does not turn up. On the other hand, she’s in a rage when the visitor does not announce his arrival beforehand, considering it a dishonour to have nothing but cheese to offer in a house that respects itself.’17

The painter Paul Chardin, whose acquaintance Rosa had made at the Passys’ in Gisors and whom she affectionately called her rapin or ‘art student’, remembered the meals to which he was invited at By. He knew always to expect a hearty welcome.

‘Rest assured of how happy the general will be to greet her Rapin as warmly as can be whenever he wishes to come,’ Rosa had told him early on in their relationship, using the soubriquets it would hence-forward amuse her to employ.18 ‘The general will not be formal,’ she assured him, and in another letter: ‘Please come as often as you like to show me your studies and don’t ever worry about disturbing me.’19

‘Mme Micas especially prided herself on her cooking and you had to be careful never to ruffle her in this domain,’ Chardin recalled.20

On one occasion when he arrived to dine, his appetite had been roused by a long ride on horseback, and he unwisely made his hunger known. When the main course appeared, he instantly regretted his declaration.

‘Just before the fish was brought in, my nostrils were assailed by a sickly odour, and in proportion as it approached the table my stomach began to rise.’21

His hasty volte-face visibly offended Mme Micas.

‘The good lady’s menus sometimes comprised the most unusual mixtures,’ Chardin explained. When one day pigeon appeared on a dish of sorrel, the young painter imprudently expressed surprise at the pairing. The big-bosomed and matronly Mme Micas peered over her spectacles at him with an expression which hovered between disdain and disbelief.22

‘I, sir, have never seen pigeons served otherwise than on sorrel.

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