I gave myself up to this enormous work with the courage of ignorance. Nothing discouraged me. Often I worked on till midnight, sometimes till four o’clock in the morning. And as one, humble gas burner was totally insufficient for working by, I had a crown or rather a silver circlet made, each bud of which was a candlestick with a candle burning, those of the back row a little higher than those of the front; and with this help I was able to work almost without ceasing. I had no watch or clock in the room, as I wished to ignore time altogether. Then my maid would come to seek me. How many times I have gone without lunch or dinner! Then I would perhaps faint and so be compelled to send for something to eat to restore my strength. [Illustration: SARAH BERNHARDT AT WORK ON HER “MÊDÉE.”] I had almost finished my group, but I had done neither the feet nor the hands of the grandmother. She was holding her little dead grandson on her knees, but her arms had no hands and her legs had no feet. I looked in vain for the hands and the feet of my ideal, large and bony. One day when my friend Martel came to see me at my studio and to look at this group which was much talked of, I had an inspiration: Martel was big, and thin enough to make Death jealous. I watched him walking round my work. He was looking at it as a connoisseur. But _I_ was looking at _him_. Suddenly I said: “My dear Martel, I beg you ... I beseech you ... to pose for the hands and feet of my grandmother.” He burst out laughing, and with perfectly good grace took off his shoes and took the place of my model. He came ten days running and gave me three hours each day. Thanks to him I was able to finish my group. I had it molded and sent to the Salon (1876) where it had a veritable success. Is there any need to say that I was accused of having got some one else to make this group for me? I asked one critic to meet me. This was no other than Jules Claretie, who had declared that this work, which was very interesting, could not have been done by me. Jules Claretie excused himself very politely and that was the end of it. The jury, after being fully informed on the subject, awarded me “honorable mention,” and I was wild with joy. I was very much criticised, but also very much praised. Nearly all the criticisms were directed to the neck of my old Breton woman—that neck on which I had worked with such eagerness. The following is from an article by Réné Delorme: