Portraits of a Marriage Picasso’s first visit to Rome, in
February 1917, had originally been conceived as a wedding trip,
but at the last moment his on-again, off-again mistress, Irène
Lagut, who had promised to marry him, changed her mind, as had
her predecessor, Gaby Lespinasse, the year before. Instead of
Irène, Jean Cocteau accompanied Picasso. In a vain attempt to
set himself at the head of the avant-garde, this ambitious young
poet had inveigled Picasso into collaborating with him on
Parade, a ballet about a couple of shills who lure the public
into their vaudeville theater by tantalizing them with samples
of their acts. Cocteau had desperately wanted Serge Diaghilev to
stage this ballet in Paris, and Picasso’s Chilean patron and
mother figure, Eugenia Errázuriz, had persuaded the impresario
to agree, provided Picasso did the décor, Erik Satie the score,
and Léonide Massine the choreography. Sets, costumes, and
rehearsals were to be done in Rome, where the impresario had his
wartime headquarters. Picass