Cosima's Diaries

Diary Entry of September 1, 1870

Overview

Photographs of Pompeian wall paintings make modern art seem contrived to Cosima, while congratulations from Cornelius and Loldi's slight improvement offer lighter notes. News of MacMahon's defeat at Beaumont brings exhilaration, but Nietzsche's account of inadequate battlefield medical care sobers the household. The question of whether the war might finally be ending is undercut by reports that France still dreams of conquering the Rhine.

Content

Thursday, September 1:

Frau Wille sends some photographs of the wall paintings in Pompeii. Splendid things, in comparison with which all our art looks so contrived. R. has had a nice letter of congratulation from P. Cornelius. Loldi somewhat better, but R. indisposed.

In town we learn that MacMahon has been beaten at Beaumont. Splendid feeling, damped only by some lines from Prof. Nietzsche (in Hagenau), who describes the terrible state and inadequacy of the medical care on the battlefields. Is it now over at last? . . . Prof. N. says the French are still talking about the conquest of the Rhine!