87 years ago, Violet Paget passed away at her Villa Il Palmerino in Florence.

The painter Berthe Noufflard, whose beautiful portraits of Vernon Lee truly deserve a public exhibition, and who was “Miss Paget’s” friend over the last ten years of her life when she used to stay at,the Noufflards’ homes in Paris and in Fresnay-le-Long (Normandy) every year for a few weeks, was devastated. On hearing about the sad news, she started writing a diary recollecting the happy or striking memories of her conversations with Vernon Lee.

Discover this unique testimony and subtle and lively portrayal of Vernon Lee as seen through the painter’s eyes: Journal de Berthe Noufflard après la mort de Miss Paget – 1935-1936

The collection presents the original manuscripts of Berthe Noufflard’s diary: 13 entries dated from 15 February 1935 to 23 September 1936. They have been indexed and are therefore searchable according to the principles of our database Holographical-Lee (HoL)
Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) : Letters, notebooks and manuscripts – Lettres, carnets et manuscrits. Links to other documents in the database (e.g. portraits, pictures, newspaper clipping and letters) are also added. More about the Noufflard archive here.

Here are a few pictures of the happy moments they spent together at Fresnay-le-Long, captured by André Noufflard’s camera and extracted from his films.

For longer extracts from André Noufflard’s films (courtesy of Geneviève Noufflard and of Mémoire Normande, where the films were restored and are housed), see our Vimeo channel VERNON LEE ONLINE. It presents interviews of the painters’ youngest daughter, Geneviève Noufflard, and many other documents! Discover Vernon Lee, moving and smiling, as perhaps you never imagined she could be!

Thanks for your continued support, and we hope to welcome you onboard the International Vernon Lee Society soon!