Book excerpt: "Artist and Model" is an absorbing work by René de Pont-Jest, a nineteenth-century French writer and journalist. Its gripping plot, vibrant writing style, and unique characters make it an entertaining read. Excerpt "When, in 1860, with the permission of the czar, Prince Pierre Olsdorf married Mlle. Lise Barineff, the Russian aristocracy was rather scandalized by the mésalliance. Everybody was well aware that the new princess was born not only before the marriage of her mother, Mme. Froment, with the Count Barineff, but even some months before Mme. Froment appeared in St. Petersburg, where, at the Michael Theater, she was brilliantly successful both as a woman and as an artiste."