Robert-Fleury took much interest in her work, and she began to hope to
equal Breslau; but she was as often despondent as she was happy, which no
doubt was due to her health, for she was already stricken with the malady
from which she died. Julian wondered why, with her talent, it was so
difficult for her to paint; to herself she seemed paralyzed.

In the autumn of 1879 she took a studio, and, besides her painting, she
essayed modelling. In 1880 her portrait of her sister was exhibited at
the Salon, and her mother and other friends were gratified by its
acceptance.

At one time Mlle. Bashkirtseff had suffered with her eyes, and, getting
better of that, she had an attack of deafness. For these reasons she
went, in the summer of 1880, to Mont-Dore for treatment, and was much
benefited in regard to her deafness, though not cured, and now the
condition of her lungs was recognized, and what she had realized for some
time was told to her family. She suffered greatly from the restrictions
of her condition. She could not read very much, as her eyes were not
strong enough to read and paint; she avoided people because of her
deafness; her cough was very tiresome and her breathing difficult.

At the Salon of 1881 her picture was well hung and was praised by
artists. In the autumn of that year she was very ill, but happily, about
the beginning of 1882, she was much better and again enthusiastic about
her painting. She had been in Spain and excited admiration in Madrid by
the excellence of her copy of "Vulcan," by Velasquez. January 15th she
wrote: "I am wrapped up in my art. I think I caught the sacred fire in
Spain at the same time that I caught the pleurisy. From being a student I
now begin to be an artist. This sudden influx of power puts me beside