Don't worry! I bring to it all the necessary objectivity, don't be alarmed.... dirty machinists, very dumb musicians, a very old [choreographer] Monsieur Auber, and everyone only thinks about getting her job done as quickly as possible to earn a living.

In a letter to Bazille's mother c. 1866; as quoted in The private lives of the Impressionists, Sue Roe, Harpen Collins Publishers, New York 2006, p. 49