Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of January 13, 1870

Overview

Cosima is confined by illness, but Fidi’s visit and Richard’s affectionate wish to paint mother and child brighten the day. Richard works only lightly and writes to Pusinelli about the birth of his son. News from Paris about Victor Noir’s killing contrasts sharply with the private household scene, while Plato’s Theaetetus brings Cosima a powerful evening pleasure.

Content

Thursday, January 13:

Unwell, chest pains; delight in Fidi, who visits me in the morning. R. is having breakfast beside my bed and says he would like to be a painter, to paint me with the child.

Amusement over the doctor's reply when R. shows him a tumor growing on a finger. "Good Heavens," he says, "how productive you are!" R. works a little; in the afternoon he writes to his friend Pusinelli, announcing the birth of his son.

Letter from Frau Schuré; Paris is literally in an uproar over the murder of Victor Noir by Prince Pierre Napoleon. In the evening began on Plato's Theaetetus, great and heavenly delight in it.