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John, about 1916 in Vierville
Suzanne, about 1914
(details)
At the Fénelon Course, 3 June 1913
Simone and Suzanne
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These 4 portraits of Daddy were taken in Vichy in the years 1915 to 1923. My grandfather made a cure each year in Vichy to treat himself. He was sick of the liver, sequencing his colonial stays, and also of his eating habits: the good one, a glass of good wine at each meal, then a digestive. He took advantage of the calm of the stay to get a portrait, so we kept several of them.
Daddy's beard has been reduced over the years, as his daughter Simone (Maman) complained about it, finding that she was snuggling and she was taking her to shave it. He refused, but gradually he cut it off more and more. Once he even surprised to cut it completely, but he let it push back.
This is a vignette issued for the benefit of the Calvados War Works, in the name of Mom
The picture of Mom, above, dates from June 1915, at her first ball at Madame Hersent. This dress that has not been worn since then was in a trunk at the Priory. I don't know what it has become.
Mom was taking drawing classes, like many young girls of the time. "authorization to paint and draw" in Bayeux, in 1918, during the war, signed by the local military authorities.
Here is also a drawing course certificate Julian, allowing her to request permission to copy at the Louvre.
