Mary in Europe: Pau, France

[Eva Elisabeth]

Pau, France, was often mentioned in discussions on Mary or even in connection with the Grants' visit there. I didn't know more than that it is a town in the French Pyrenees and wanted to find out why Mary decided to live there.
Most of the following is a summary from Wiki of what could probably be interesting to you in order to get an idea of where Mary spent most of her time between 1876 - 1880.
   
   
French writer, poet and politician Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (1790 –1869), instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic, said: "Pau has the world's most beautiful view of the earth just as Naples has the most beautiful view of the sea." The city stands on a 200m elevation overlooking the valley of a mountain river called the "Gave de Pau", where a ford gave passage to the Pyrenees. Pau features an oceanic climate with mild Winters, and hot but not very hot Summers.
   
The site was fortified in the 11th century to control the ford across the "Gave de Pau". It became the seat of the viscounts of Béarn and was made capital of Béarn in 1464. The Château de Pau was the residence of the kings of Navarre, who were also viscounts of Béarn and birthplace of Henry IV of France. His mother, Jeanne d'Albret, crossed into France to ensure her son would be born there. Napoleon III refurbished the château and Pau adding streets of Belle Époque architecture. Pau is still a centre for winter sports and equestrian events. King Charles XIV of Sweden, the first royal Bernadotte, was also born there. Nowadays, Pau has roughly 85,000 inhabitants.

Now comes something (I find) very interesting:
The "Musée des beaux-arts de Pau" exhibits an 1873 oil painting by Edgar Degas: "A Cotton Office in New Orleans". In it, Degas depicts the moment when his uncle Michel Musson's cotton brokerage business went bankrupt in an economic crash. The firm was swamped by the postwar growth of the much larger Cotton Exchange. In the painting, Musson is seen examining raw cotton for its quality while Degas' brother Rene reads "The Daily Picayune". It carried the bankruptcy news. Another brother, Achille, rests against a window wall at left while others, including Musson's partners, go about their business.
This is the painting:
   
Degas traveled from Europe to New Orleans in late 1872 with his brother, René, to visit his mother's brother, Michael Musson. After the American Civil War, René had joined his uncle's cotton factor firm in New Orleans. Degas was to return to Europe in January 1873, but when his return trip was delayed, he decided to paint the cotton business surrounding him.

Although Degas was one of the few impressionists who did not focus on idyllic landscapes but on people, including, despite his famous ballett dancers, people's less idyllic destiny and life, I was not aware he travelled to America and also painted on this topic.

"A Cotton Office in New Orleans" was the first painting by Degas to be purchased by a museum. Degas' sale of the piece marked a turning point in his career as he moved from being a struggling, unrecognized artist to a recognized and financially stable artist.

Degas crafted his work with the intent of selling it to a British textile manufacturer. But a drop in stock prices worldwide and declines in the cotton and art markets ended his hopes for that specific sale. Degas then exhibited "A Cotton Office in New Orleans" in the second Impressionist show in Paris in 1876. He finally sold the painting in 1878 to the newly founded Musee des Beaux-Arts in Pau, France. Thus, Mary might have seen it!!