"I should be most unjust if I did not say that from 1823 to 1833 an angel sustained me through that horrible struggle. Madame de Berny, though married, was like a God to me. She was a mother, friend, family, counselor; she made the writer, she consoled the young man, she created his taste, she wept like a sister, she laughed, she came daily, like a beneficent sleep, to still his sorrows. She did more; though under the control of a husband, she found means to lend me as much as forty-five thousand francs, of which I returned the last six thousand in 1836, with interest at five per cent., be it understood. But she never spoke to me of my debt, except now and then; without her, I should, assuredly, be dead. She often divined that I had eaten nothing for days; she provided for all with angelic goodness; she encouraged that pride which preserves a man from baseness,—for which to-day my enemies reproach me, calling it a silly satisfaction in myself—the pride that Boulanger has, perhaps, pushed to excess in my portrait."
Balzac's conception of women was formed largely from his association with Madame de Berny in his early manhood, and a reflection of these ideas is seen throughout his works. It was probably to give Madame de Berny pleasure that he painted the mature beauties which won for him so many feminine admirers.
It is doubtless Madame de Berny whom Balzac had in mind when in
/Madame Firmiani/ he describes the heroine:
"Have you ever met, for your happiness, some woman whose harmonious tones give to her speech the charm that is no less conspicuous in her manners, who knows how to talk and to be silent, who cares for you with delicate feeling, whose words are happily chosen and her language pure? Her banter caresses you, her criticism does not sting; she neither preaches or disputes, but is interested in leading a discussion, and stops at the right moment. Her manner is friendly and gay, her politeness is unforced, her earnestness is not servile; she reduces respect to a mere gentle shade; she never tires you, and leaves you satisfied with her and yourself. You will see her gracious presence stamped on the things she collects about her. In her home everything charms the eye, and you breathe, as it seems, your native air. This woman is quite natural. You never feel an effort, she flaunts nothing, her feelings are expressed with simplicity because they are genuine. Though candid, she never wounds the most sensitive pride; she accepts men as God made them, pitying the victims, forgiving defects and absurdities, sympathizing with every age, and vexed with nothing because she has the tact of foreseeing everything. At once tender and gay, she first constrains and then consoles you. You love her so truly that if this angel does wrong, you are ready to justify her. Such was Madame Firmiani."
It was to Madame de Berny's son, Alexandre, that Balzac dedicated
/Madame Firmiani/, and he no doubt recognized the portrait.
Balzac often portrayed his own life and his association with women in his works. In commenting on /La Peau de Chagrin/, he writes:
"Pauline is a real personage for me, only more lovely than I could describe her. If I have made her a dream it is because I did not wish my secret to be discovered."
And again, in writing of /Louis Lambert/:
"You know when you work in tapestry, each stitch is a thought.
Well, each line in this new work has been for me an abyss. It
contains things that are secrets between it and me."
In portraying the yearnings and sufferings of Louis Lambert (/Louis
Lambert/), of Felix de Vandenesse (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/) and of
Raphael (La Peau de Chagrin/), Balzac is picturing his own life.
Pauline de Villenoix (/Louis Lambert/) and Pauline Gaudin (/Le Peau de
Chagrin/) are possibly drawn from the same woman and have many
characteristics of Madame de Berny. Madame de Mortsauf (/Le Lys dans
la Vallee/) is Pauline, though not so outspoken. Then, is it not /La
Dilecta/ whom the novelist had in mind when Louis Lambert writes: