8. Octave Mouret’s conquests are mentioned more than once in
Pot-bouille (see Zola 1960-1967, vol. 3, pp. 68, 235, 408). Van Gogh’s ‘quotation’ about Mouret’s contempt for women is not literal, but there are several passages in which it is expressed, such as: ‘he gave way to his streak of brutality, the fierce scorn he felt for women’ (il céda à son fond de brutalité, au dédain féroce qu’il avait de la femme) (chapter 1, p. 21; a similar quotation in chapter 12, p. 245) and ‘then he rose, full of contempt’ (alors, il se leva, plein de mépris) (chapter 4, p. 72).