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| Fille de Melandroni (Portrait of a Courtesan) by Caravaggio, 1597/99 |
The Italian Courtesan.
The honest courtesan: "During the Italian Renaissance, mythology and art contributed to the increasing popularity of the cortigiana, or courtesan. The Cinquecento, or 1500s, in Italy coincided with the rise of a very unique category of elite prostitute called 'honest' or 'honored' (onesta or onorata) courtesan in recognition of their elevated social position and special talents. The cortigiana created an image to suit the tastes of a clientele possessing ideals of womanliness which were carried through the ages from ancient times and spiced up with a bit of humanism and Neoplatonism. These women modeled themselves after the classic hetaera and promised both sexual delight and aesthetic enchantment in the most graceful, cultivated, and beautiful settings. cortigiana took care to resemble the ladies of the court in dress, mannerisms and social function, entertaining with conversation, song, poetry, and musical accomplishments. (Henriques, 1965). It was her profession to embody the aristocratic repertoire of desirable traits in all areas except chastity." (Life Imitates Myth for the Renaissance Courtesan @La Bella Donna: The Italian Renaissance ReLived)
Wife of: Alphonso Lanier, musician in the King's Music, mar 1592.
" . . . Emilia was born in 1569 to the family of a court musician, the Italian Bassano; she died in 1645. According to the diary, she caught the eye of the old Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon, a patron of the actors' company, who made her his mistress, and she had a son by him. In 1593, 'for cover,' Forman writes, she was married off to Alphonso Lanyer, a minor courtier who for some reason was thought suitable for such a role. There is no evidence of her involvement in literature or poetry. Forman depicts his client as a person of quite dubious repute, who made a show of her former liaison with the aged Lord Chamberlain (who died in 1596) in front of this healer astrologer, and who wondered aloud whether she herself might become a 'real lady.' Forman, who did not hesitate to serve as a panderer himself, characterizes her unambiguously as a 'whore.' Afterwards, she received a pension, but who granted that pension and what for, is unknown." (The Shakespeare Game: 368)
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| The Lovers by Giulio Romano,c1525 @ Web Gallery of Art |
Courtesans vs. common prostitutes: "Fixtures in sixteenth-century Italy, courtesans were essentially high-class prostitutes, as distinguished from the more ordinary, and cheaper though equally ubiquitous, puttane (common prostitutes). A significant population of courtesans and prostitutes is documented in the 1558 census of Rome, where the institutionalized clerical and nominally celibate culture made for a more open tolerance of such women than in most other Italian cities, at least in the period before the Counter-Reformation. The later years of the sixteenth century saw a shift in attitude, however. A censorious, of perhaps somewhat disingenuous, post-Tridentine view is offered in an account of the Eternal City written in 1581: 'in Rome it is a thing much wished and desired that there were none of these common wemen [sic], which they call Harlots or Courtisans.' In the very wish for their absence lies confirmation of their intractable presence. A series of prints dating from roughly this time illustrating the modes of dress of Roman women includes the courtesan, together with the betrothed, the bride, the wife, and the widow (cat. no. 104). Such popular imagery corroborates the testimony of contemporary written sources: prostitutes and courtesans wer as much a part of the fabric of Roman society as honest women." (Art and Love in Renaissance Italy: 46)
The art of the courtesan: "Famed for their beauty, wit, refinement, or conversational skills, and often learned, cultured, and well spoken, many courtesans were also accomplished musicians or poets (or least they contrived to appear so: Aretino's puttana Nanna urges the would-be cortigiana onesta Pippa to 'play a little tune, pretend to be reading Furioso, Petrarch and the Centonovelle'). The home of the 'lovely, kind and generous Maria da Prato' in Florence provided a venue for literary gatherings, including the premiere of the poet Anton Francesco Grazzini's comic farce Il frate. Machiavelli's mistress Barbara Raffacani Salutati, the probable subject of a portrait by the Florentine painter Domenico Pulligo (fig. 35), was acclaimed for her exceptional musical ability (alluded to by the music book in front of her) and the her enchanting voice. In Vasari's characterization of her as a famous and beautiful courtesan of wonder, then, the pearls were the jewels most specifically targeted by Venetian sumptuary laws. One such law forbade all but courtesans and recently married women to wear them in public, much to the dismay of respectable pearl-owning matrons; that decree contradicted an earlier one that expressly proscribed the wearing of pearls by prostitutes." (Art and Love in Renaissance Italy): 46-47)
Emilia Lanier (1569-1645)
English poet
Daughter of: Baptist Bassano, a court musician & Margaret Johnson.
Wife of: Alphonso Lanier, musician in the King's Music, mar 1592.
" . . . Emilia was born in 1569 to the family of a court musician, the Italian Bassano; she died in 1645. According to the diary, she caught the eye of the old Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon, a patron of the actors' company, who made her his mistress, and she had a son by him. In 1593, 'for cover,' Forman writes, she was married off to Alphonso Lanyer, a minor courtier who for some reason was thought suitable for such a role. There is no evidence of her involvement in literature or poetry. Forman depicts his client as a person of quite dubious repute, who made a show of her former liaison with the aged Lord Chamberlain (who died in 1596) in front of this healer astrologer, and who wondered aloud whether she herself might become a 'real lady.' Forman, who did not hesitate to serve as a panderer himself, characterizes her unambiguously as a 'whore.' Afterwards, she received a pension, but who granted that pension and what for, is unknown." (The Shakespeare Game: 368)
Her lovers were:
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| Henry Carey 1st Baron Hunsdon |
English aristocrat & courtier
Lover in 1587.
1st Baron Hunsdon 1559
Master of the Queen's Hawks 1560 (the Queen's Master Falconer)
Knight of the Garter 1561
Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed 1568
Privy Counsellor 1577
Son of: Sir William Carey & Mary Boleyn, sister of Queen Anne Boleyn.
Husband of: Anne Morgan, daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan & Elizabeth Whitney, mar 1545.
" . . . Born Aemilia Bassano and part of the Lanier family tree, she was a member of the minor gentry through her father's appointment as a royal musician, and was apparently educated in the household of Susan Bertie, Countess of Kent. She was for several years the mistress of Henry carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, first cousin of Elizabeth I of England. She was married to court musician Alfonso Lanier in 1592 when she became pregnant, and the marriage was reportedly unhappy." (Shakespeare's Sonnets: 36)
"Not long after her mother's death, Lanier became the mistress of Tudor courtier and cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon. At the time of their affair, Lord Hunsdon was Elizabeth's Lord Chamberlain and a patron of the arts and theater (he supported Shakespeare's theater company, known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men). He was also 45 years older than Lanier. Records indicate that Carey gave her a pension of 40 pounds a year. Lanier apparently enjoyed her time as Carey's mistress. . . ." (Shakespeare's Sonnets: 38)
2) Simon Forman.
(1552-1611)
English doctor, astrologer & analyst of his time.
Husband of: Jane Neale.
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| Raphael's Galatea |
Imperia de Cognati (1486-1512)
Roman courtesan
Daughter of: Paris & Diana di Pietro Cognati.
"Imperia's real name was Lucrezia and she surrounded herself with men; Agostino Chigi was not her only lover and he knew it.
Love Life: "She counted most of Bembo's humanist friends among her lovers. In addition to Sadoleto there were Castigleone, Beroaldo, Colocci, Giorgio, and the papal librarian Inghirami. . . ." (Pietro Bembo: Lover, Linguist, Cardinal: 154)
Powerful lovers: " . . . Her lovers included men of considerable power and some danger. Giacomo Sadoleto and Filippo Beroaldo, rivals with Chigi for her love, both held office in the Vatican state: Sadoleto as secretary to Leo X, and Beroaldo as prefect of the Vatican Library. . . . " (Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature and Drama, 1500-1650)
Her Imperia(l) lodgings: " . . . Matteo Bandello writes in a novella of the famous Roman courtesan Imperia, whom he portrays as the personification of everything fine and beautiful that the aristocratic world of the Renaissance had to offer. Her lodgings, as her name suggested, were virtually imperial: 'her house was furnished in a manner that was all carefully planned so that whatever foreigner entered, seeing the furniture and the discipline of the servants, would believe that here lived a princess.' In fact, she was the perfect match in grace, style, and manners for the elite men who visited her. And in many ways she was the mistress who made the mad, her lovers lovers out as true aristocrats merely by being accepted into her company. . . ." (The Courtesan's Arts: Cross-cultural Perspectives: 281)
Her lovers were:
Italian banker & Renaissance patron.
Natural offspring:
a. Lucrezia, married Arcangelo Colonna
" . . . The banker Agostino Chigi was the regular and main client of Imperia, at this point called the richest banker in the world. He financed Imperia to maintain what was called a royal standard of living, and she kept both a palace in Rome and a country villa outside the city." (Wikipedia)
2) Angelo del Bufalo.
Italian banker
"Station often worked in conjunction with Francesca, who frequently served as Felice's agent in the acquisition of textiles and other objects. Just a few years younger than Felice, she was married to Angelo del Bufalo, a high-level Roman bureaucrat who would eventually receive the appointment of maestro di strada, commissioner of public works. Angelo gave Francesca connections that were useful to Felice. He was also a notorious philanderer. The churchman Matteo Bandello's Novelle of 1554 tells the story of 'Imperia, Roman courtesan . . . loved by an endless number of great and rich men. But among those who loved her was Signor Angelo del Bufalo, a man who was valiant, humane, genteel and extremely rich . . . he kept her in a very honourably furnished house, with many male and female servants continually in attendance upon her.'" (The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere: 203)
" . . . Another, Angelo del Buffalo, a friend of the writer Matteo Bandello who met Imperia in Rome in 1506 and composed a novella about her, is said to have provoked her suicide, for on 13 August 1512 Imperia drank poison. . . . " (Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature and Drama, 1500-1650)
"In 1511 Imperia poisoned herself and left behind a legendary aura --- old age did not stain her. Besides her beauty, which had no vulgarity, she clearly possessed wit and intelligence. She was rich: she had a palazzo and a vigna, a place in the countryside, near Rome; she had what every courtesan dreamt of. The company she kept was select, as pleasant as any woman could wish. Bandello wrote: 'I think many of us were in Rome at the time, when you all knew Imperia, the Roman courtesan, personally or by repute; how beautiful she was and how many great and rich men were in love with her. But, among the rest, the man whom she loved above all was Signor Angelo del Bufalo, a man of real personal worth, human, noble and rich. He kept her for many years and was loved by her passionately, as was shown by her end.' When del Bufalo didn't lover her any more, Imperia forgot that she was a courtesan forgot that she had a daughter to look after, that she was young and rich. Chigi, who by then was a man of forty-five, sent her the best doctors in Rome. She just had time to make a will in which her powerful friend Chigi was her chief executor; she also begged him to look after her daughter, Lucrezia, who was fourteen at the time, and to see that she would be married suitably and soon. Imperia died on 15 August, on a night when the summer sirocco exploded in frightening thunder and lightning. . . ." (Renaissance Woman: 44)
" . . . Another, Angelo del Buffalo, a friend of the writer Matteo Bandello who met Imperia in Rome in 1506 and composed a novella about her, is said to have provoked her suicide, for on 13 August 1512 Imperia drank poison. . . . " (Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature and Drama, 1500-1650)
"In 1511 Imperia poisoned herself and left behind a legendary aura --- old age did not stain her. Besides her beauty, which had no vulgarity, she clearly possessed wit and intelligence. She was rich: she had a palazzo and a vigna, a place in the countryside, near Rome; she had what every courtesan dreamt of. The company she kept was select, as pleasant as any woman could wish. Bandello wrote: 'I think many of us were in Rome at the time, when you all knew Imperia, the Roman courtesan, personally or by repute; how beautiful she was and how many great and rich men were in love with her. But, among the rest, the man whom she loved above all was Signor Angelo del Bufalo, a man of real personal worth, human, noble and rich. He kept her for many years and was loved by her passionately, as was shown by her end.' When del Bufalo didn't lover her any more, Imperia forgot that she was a courtesan forgot that she had a daughter to look after, that she was young and rich. Chigi, who by then was a man of forty-five, sent her the best doctors in Rome. She just had time to make a will in which her powerful friend Chigi was her chief executor; she also begged him to look after her daughter, Lucrezia, who was fourteen at the time, and to see that she would be married suitably and soon. Imperia died on 15 August, on a night when the summer sirocco exploded in frightening thunder and lightning. . . ." (Renaissance Woman: 44)
3) Angelo Colocci.
Italian papal secretary.
4) Blosio Palladio.
Italian poet & architect
5) Castigleone.
(6) Filippo Beroaldo the Younger.
Italian poet & librarian
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| Giacomo Sadoleto |
Italian bishop & cardinal.
Bishop of Carpentras 1517
" . . . Giacomo Sadoleto (born 1477; died 1547), was a native of Bologna and the son of a noted jurist, Giovanni Sadoleto. He studied Latin at Ferrara and Greek at Rome, where he settled in the pontificate of Alexander VI and acquired a great reputation for learning. Leo X appointed him a secretary at the same time with Bembo . . . and soon made him Bishop of Carpentras, a town fifteen miles northeast of Avignon. He was secretary also to Clement VII, to whom he boldly declared that the sack of Rome (1527) was inflicted by God as a punishment for human wickedness. Paul III created him a cardinal in 1536. A sincerely pious man, he was conscious of the evils of the Church and did not escape suspicion of heresy. He was a close friend of Vittoria Colonna, and the Roman Academy often met at his house on the Quirinal. . . Although far from ruch, he was very charitable, especially in providing young men of his flock with the means of education." (The Book of the Courtier: 373)
" . . . One of her protectors was Sadoleto, one of the golden group around Chigi, also depicted by Raphael in the loggia of Chigi's new villa, Le Delizie -- the Delights -- which Baldassare Peruzzi designed for the great banker. . . ." (Renaissance Woman: 43)
"When Giulia was still one of the top courtesans of her time, the real star was Imperia, whose beauty was legendary. She was a close friend of Raphael, who painted her often when he came to Rome (1508). Like all courtesans of her time, Imperia would spend long boring hours standing by the window, beautifully attired, looking at what happened below in the street, and more important, being eyed by possible client. (1508)... "(Servadio, 2005, p. 41)
" . . . One of her protectors was Sadoleto, one of the golden group around Chigi, also depicted by Raphael in the loggia of Chigi's new villa, Le Delizie -- the Delights -- which Baldassare Peruzzi designed for the great banker. . . ." (Renaissance Woman: 43)
8) Giacomo Stella.
" . . In 1506, the Mantuan ambassador reported that a Venetian, Giacomo Stella, had been murdered in Rome b an assassin hired by one Alberto, and that the 'reason for this homicide was due to no other cause but jealousy over a courtesan called Imperia' whom he thought would get off lightly in the affair 'owing to the favour she enjoys among certain cardinals, whom one cannot mention. . . . " (Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature and Drama, 1500-1650:n.p.)9) Giorgio.
10) Paolo Giovio.
11) Raffael.
Italian papal librarian.
In fifteenth-century Rome, the famous courtesan named Imperia took care that neither of her daughters would be forced to take up the profession at which she excelled so brilliantly. She had been trained in the art by her mother. Diana Cognati was not notable among courtesans, and probably for this reason Imperia began to supplement her mother's income when she was very young. She gave birth to her own first daughter, Lucrezia, when she was barely seventeen years old...." (Griffin, 2002, p. 121)"When Giulia was still one of the top courtesans of her time, the real star was Imperia, whose beauty was legendary. She was a close friend of Raphael, who painted her often when he came to Rome (1508). Like all courtesans of her time, Imperia would spend long boring hours standing by the window, beautifully attired, looking at what happened below in the street, and more important, being eyed by possible client. (1508)... "(Servadio, 2005, p. 41)
"Imperia was probably born in 1485 and by the age of seventeen she was already the mother of a daughter called Lucrezia, whose paternity was either attributable to the distinguished Giacomo Sadoleto, friend of Vittoria Colonna... A man of average height, blue -eyed, aquiline nose, Chigi had become the richest banker in the world...." (Renaissance Woman:41)
" . . . Lucrezia Cognati was born on 3 August 1481 to a prostitute Diana Cognati. At the age of seventeen, Imperia bore a daughter, also called Lucrezia, whom she placed in the care of nuns at the Convent of St Mario in Campo Marzio; she had a second daughter, Margherita, by the wealthy banker, Agostino Chigi. Her mother, Diana, and stepfather, Paolo Trotti, put their names to a conveyancing document of 1507 in which 'Lucrezia was made ehir to their estate. . . . " (Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature and Drama, 1500-1650:n.p.)
" . . . Lucrezia Cognati was born on 3 August 1481 to a prostitute Diana Cognati. At the age of seventeen, Imperia bore a daughter, also called Lucrezia, whom she placed in the care of nuns at the Convent of St Mario in Campo Marzio; she had a second daughter, Margherita, by the wealthy banker, Agostino Chigi. Her mother, Diana, and stepfather, Paolo Trotti, put their names to a conveyancing document of 1507 in which 'Lucrezia was made ehir to their estate. . . . " (Shakespeare Among the Courtesans: Prostitution, Literature and Drama, 1500-1650:n.p.)
Benefits: "The Villa Farnesina is rumored to have been built upon the site of the ancient villa where Cleopatra stayed when she accompanied her lover, Mark Antony, to Rome, and was built by Chigi for his mistress, the infamous courtesan Imperia (though it became the home of his second mistress, Andreosia, who eventually became his wife, after Imperia's death). Considering this history, it is not surprising that the decoration of the villa should have a common theme running through it - love." (Dunn, 2004 September 18)
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| Tullia d'Aragona |
(1505/10-1556).
Italian courtesan, author & philosopher.
Wife of:
Silvestro Guicciardi of Ferrara
married 1543.
"Tullia d'Aragona was a cortegiana onesta, that is to say, educated, respectable in manners, selective in her choice of clients, and expensive. She was the daughter of a courtesan from Campania and Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona, a descendant of the Aragonese royal line. Her lovers included some of the most eminent intellectuals of her time, among them Girolamo Muzio, Bernardo Tasso, Girolamo Fracastoro, and possibly even the authoritative Florentine intellectual and critic Benedetto Varchi, known as a homosexual. Tullia d'Aragona authored a poetic dialogue where she exchanged opinions about love between herself and Varchi, and she also published poems addressed to other intellectuals, who often reciprocated." (Shining Eyes, Cruel Fortune: The Lives and Loves of Italian Renaissance Women Poets: xvi-xvii)
Her lovers were:
1) Benedetto Varchi.
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| Bernardo Tasso by Unknown artist, 16th century @ Museo dei Tasso e della Storia postale Camerata |
2) Bernardo Tasso (1493-1569)
Italian courtier & poet.
Secretary to Prince of Salerno
Governor of Ostiglia.
Illegitimate son of: Monsignor Luigi Tasso, Bishop of Recanati & Macerata.
Officially son of: Gabriele Tasso dei Tassi del Cornello & Caterina dei Tassi del Cornello.
Cousins
Husband of: Porzia de Rossi, daughter of Giacomo de' Rossi & Lucrezia Gambacorta.
3) Ercole Bentivoglio.
4) Filippo Strozzi.
" . . . By June 1526, was back in Rome in the company of Filippo Strozzi, as attested by one of his letters to Francesco Vettori. D'Aragona's relationship with Strozzi was rather long-lived, for we find her in his company five years later. . . ." (Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance. . . ." (Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France and England: 27)
5) Gianni.
a wealthy German.
6) Girolamo Fracastoro.
7) Girolamo Muzio (1496-1576)
Italian courtier, writer & poet.
"In Ferrara, Aragona again assembled a court of admirers and supporters... More important for her was meeting Girolamo Muzio, a literary man, then in the service of the duke, who became her lover for a few years and a devoted friend for a longer time...." (Russell, 1994, p. 27)
8) Paolo Emilio Orsini dei Signori de Monterotondo.
Personal & Family Background: Tullia was the daughter of Giulia Campana, a courtesan from Adria. In her birth certificate, her father is identified as Constanzo Palmieri d'Aragona. However, it is believed that Tullia was the daughter of Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona, illegitimate grandson of King Ferdinando d'Aragona of Naples.
Spouse & Offspring: She married, in 1543, Silvestro Guicciardi of Ferrara, although nothing more is heard of this relationship or this man. (Robin, et. al., 2007, p. 27) [Bio1:71] [Bio2:26] [Bio3:239] [Bio4:27] [Bio5] [Pix2] [Ref1:Greg Deane's Wisdom]
the Honest Courtesan (It. la Cortigiana Onesta)
Her lovers were:
1) Franceso Martinengo.
"...Francesco, his brother, and possibly Franco's lover, was married to Beatrice, who was the daughter of Count Tomaso Langosco di Stroppiana, grand cancelliere of the duke of Savoy. After two husbands, she married Francesco in 1580...." (Rosenthal, 1992, p. 300)2) Giacomo de Baballi di Ragusa.
"...When she drew up her first will at the age of eighteen, she was pregnant with a son, whose father was probably Giacomo de Baballi di Ragusa. Franco herself suggested the child's paternity but never actually affirmed it...." (Robin, et. al., 2007, p. 153)3) Henri III de France.
"Franco belonged to the highest caste among courtesans. Her fame reached its apex in the summer of 1574, when the Republic of Venice scheduled a night with a courtesan among its festivities for the twenty-three-year-old Henri III of Valois, soon to be crowned king of France. Franco's name was proposed by the patrician Andrea Tron, one of the forty gentlemen in the king's Venetian escort and a mainstay among Franco's clientele. How the king reciprocated is not known, but Franco sent him a portrait of herself with a letter and two encomiastic sonnets...." (Robin, et. al., 2000, p. 154)4) Jacobo Tintoretto.
5) Marco Vernier.
6) Paolo Veronese.
Physical Traits and Personal Character: "She was beautiful in the preferred cinquecento style---an oval face with a widow's peak, auburn curls, large, soulful eyes, and a bowed, bee-stung mouth---but she gilded the lily. She braided her dyed blonde hair in an artful crested wreath, softened her skin with sugared alum and ass's milk, and hung dangling gold earrings from rouged earglobes. She wore embroidered clogs and ornate, impearled gowns of satin, silk, and crushed velvet." (Prioleau and Prioleau, 2004, n.p.)
"Veronica Franco was the mistress of two Renaissance painters, Jacobo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese, who both regularly used her as a model. She spoke seven languages fluently, wrote sensual poetry, exchanged letters with Michel de Montaigne, and played the flute. Veronica Franco was a mixture of the beautiful and the trendsetting when it came to fashion; she was the sole woman of her day who succeeded in seducing Henri III of France, who otherwise desired only men." (Ringdal and Daly, p. 182)
Spouse and Offspring: "The young Franco married Paolo Panizzo but the marriage was unhappy and they separated. She had six children by a few different men but only three survived. Wealthy men helped her throughout her life, including Domenico Venier who held the most influential literary salons in Venice, and she had a liaison with Henry III, the King of France." (lifeinitaly.com). Offspring: "...When she drew up her first will at the age of eighteen, she was pregnant with a son, whose father was probably Giacomo de Baballi di Ragusa...." (Robin, et. al., 2007, p. 153)
First Encounter: "...Her fame reached its apex in the summer of 1574, when the Republic of Venice scheduled a night with a courtesan among its festivities for the twenty-three-year-old Henri III of Valois, soon to be crowned king France. Franco's name was proposed by the patrician Andrea Tron, one of the forty gentlemen in the king's Venetian escort and a mainstay among Franco's clientele. How the king reciprocated is not known; but Franco sent him a portrait of herself with a letter and two encomiastic sonnets, in which she compared Henri to the god Jupiter since he had appeared to her in a benevolent guise: not arrayed in his regal splendor but in human clothing...." (Robin, et. al., 2007, p. 154) [Bio2] [Pix2] [Ref2] [Ref3] [Ref4:Life in Italy]
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| Virginia Oldoini Contessa di Castiglione |
Daughter of: Marchese Filippo Oldoini & Isabella Lamporecchi. Members of the minor Tuscan nobility
Wife of: Francesco Verasis Asinari, Conte di Castiglione d'Asti, Conte di Castiglione Tinella
La Castiglione's physical appearance & personal qualities: Virginia Oldoini (was) the daughter of noble parents...and raised by her grandfather. She was taught to speak many languages and became a voluptuous beauty with brown hair and blue eyes who shocked everyone by wearing revealing clothes...." (Life in Italy)
"The Countess was known for her beauty and her flamboyant entrances in elaborate dress at the imperial court. One of her most infamous outfits was a 'Queen of Hearts' costume, George Frederic Watts painted her in 1857. She was described as having long, wavy blond hair, pale skin, a delicate oval face, and eyes that constantly changed from green to an extraordinary blue-violet." (La Divine Comtesse in Vintage Emphemera)
Royal mistress, spy & model
"Although the identity of the Italian lady who so inspired Marcello is unfortunately not known with certainty, it has been recently suggested by Pierre Apraxine that the 'haughty, passionate woman' was the Countess de Castiglione, Virginia Oldoini (1837-1899). Oldoini was not related to Carlo Colonna, Duke of Castiglione-Altibranditi, Marcello's deceased husband. The beautiful mistress of Napoleon III, Oldoini was a spy for the court of Savoy, and the best-known and most glamorous demi-mondaine of the age. On 14 June 1863, a critic in Le Figaro stated that 'everyone in Paris knows that the bust of Bianca Capello by Marcello is Mme de Castiglione. The Countess de Castiglione had served as a model for other artists' works. Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887), for example completed a sculpture entitled La Comtesse de Castiglione en reine d'Etrurie in 1864...." (Pierre: 210)
A very famous but pricey courtesan
"Another famous beauty was Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione who coming to Paris in the 1850s with very little money of her own, soon became mistress of Napoleon III and after that relationship ended, soon moved on to many other wealthy powerful men in government, finance and European royalty. She was possibly the most aristocratic and exclusive of the demimondaines, it is said she charged a member of the British aristocracy a million francs for 12 hours in her company. Sadly she lacked charm, and as soon as her looks went so did her patrons. She died alone and mentally ill many years later."
A string of affairs with the rich and famous
"She returned to Paris in 1861, carrying on a string of affairs with politicians and members of the nobility, and captivating all Paris with her beauty, mystery, and glamour. After the fall of the empire, she remained in Paris, but though she continued taking photographs, she became a virtual recluse, terrified of showing her aging face to the world. Though she tried to organize a showcase of her photographs for the Universal Exposition of 1900, she died shortly before, at the age of 62." (Coquette in Paris: Beauty in the City of Light)
"They called her 'the divine' Countess Castiglione, this Italian-born girl who was the favorite of a king and then an emperor before she was 25, who was the sweetheart of two pretenders to the French throne by the time she was 30, who was the mistress of three members of the Rothschild banking family in the succeeding 20 years." (Chicago Tribune)
"They called her 'the divine' Countess Castiglione, this Italian-born girl who was the favorite of a king and then an emperor before she was 25, who was the sweetheart of two pretenders to the French throne by the time she was 30, who was the mistress of three members of the Rothschild banking family in the succeeding 20 years." (Chicago Tribune)
Her lovers were:
2 Orleans Brothers.
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| Philippe d'Orleans & Robert d'Orleans |
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| Philippe d'Orleans Comte de Paris, 1862 |
1) Philippe d'Orleans, Comte de Paris (1838-1894)
Lover in 1875.
3 Rothschild Brothers.
1) Alphonse de Rothschild.
2) Gustave de Rothschild.
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| James de Rothschild |
"In spite of her allowance from the private funds of King Victor Emmanuel for secret service work and other favors received ($1,500 a month) she was always in debt because of her luxurious way of living. But whenever she was not in funds the Rothschilds seemed to be willing to relieve her financial stringency. Her friends announced that this famous banking family was greatly in debt because she had given its Paris members early information on the approach of the declaration of war against Austria. This enabled them to make handsome profits in speculation on French 'rentes' (government bonds). Her enemies, and they are numerous, said, of course, that all three brothers, James, Alphonse and Gustave, were keeping her. Her income from the bankers seems to have been dealt our by Baron James de Rothschild. A letter in the Castiglione papers, written to the countess by her close friend, Princess Mathilde Poniatowska, is enlightening on this point. It advised: 'Keep the passion of the old baron for yourself and put it to profit." (Castiglione's Scandals Shock Paris @ Chicago Tribune)
3 Doria Brothers.
" . . . The Count came across Virginia and they married out of love in 1853, when Virginia was barely 17. The two had a son, Giorgio, but after some years, Virginia became bored with her routine lifestyle, and took up a lover, Ambrogio. When Ambrogio found himself detained from work and both were separated by distance, La Castiglione took up another temporary lover, Ambrogio's brother, Marcelo. Both brothers were oblivious to another, until Virginia resumed her affair with Ambrogio when he returned from duty. However, Virginia found that the once thrilling affair had become as monotone as her married life,a nd she looked for more excitement and spontaneity where she could." (Portfolio of Knowledge)
1) Ambrogio Doria.
"...Men were mad about the young woman who became the mistress of the naval officer, Marquis Doria, at the tender age of 16." (Life in Italy)
"1859-61: The Countess lives in semi seclusion with her son in Villa Gloria, near Turin. During this period she has liaisons with Prince Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais, head of the French legation in Turin, and with Prince Joseph Poniatowski." (La Divine Comtesse: 51)
2) Andrea Doria.
3) Marcello Doria.
4) Arthur-Leon Imbert de Saint-Amand (1834-1900)
French diplomat & writer.
Lover in 1868.
"1868: The Countess begins a liaison with the writer and diplomat Baron Arthur-Leon Imbert de Saint-Amand." (La Divine Comtesse: 20)
5) Costantino Nigra.
(1828-1907)
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| Costantino Nigra |
"The album was undoubtedly given to Nigra by Castiglione herself when they were at their most intimate, close to the time of her first stay in Paris (1856-57). The Countess later denied that they had had a liaison in a letter probably addressed to the Duke de Chartres. She wrote to him" 'Only when you come to discuss N.C. with me and whether it is or is not love between him and me, when you persist in telling me that I am his mistress, or have been . . . I say to you: 1st I have not been, nor am I now his mistress, 2nd I have never loved him, nor do I love him now. 3rd I do not at all regret not seeing him now (on the contrary). In addition, the gaps between our meetings have been frequent for the past three years although circumstances and situations have made us very intimate, 4th I therefore bear him no grudge, and anyway it would be easy not to prolong this alleged grudge as iI have only to summon him over when you are not here. I am the one who prefers him to keep his distance because he always vexes me and disgusts me with his little secrets, his ruses, and his treachery. I do not wish to see him again until your affair is ended, sorted out, forgotten, dead, or to speak to him (otherwise I shall break his neck). . . . Apart from his unspeakable faults which are in total opposition to my way of seeing, thinking, and acting, I am his friend and am partial to him. That is all. There is nothing else.'" (La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione: 90-91) [Ref1:La Divine Comtesse]
6) Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais.
Lover in 1859-1861.
7) Ignace Bauer.
French banker.
Lover in 1863.
"12 January 1863: Beginning of the Countess's liaison with the banker Ignace Bauer, brother of the chaplain to the Empress. The Countess borrows the sum of 450,000 francs (at the time an enormous amount of money) from the banker Charles Laffitte." (La Divine Comtesse: 19)
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| Joseph Poniatowski @ Geni |
9) Joseph Poniatowski (1816-1873)
1st Conte di Monte Rotondo 1847
1st Principe di Monte Rotondo 1850
Polish aristocrat, composer & tenor.
Natural son of: Stanislaw Poniatowski & Cassandra Luci.
Husband of: Matilda Perotti (1814-1875), mar 1834
Lover in 1859-1861.
11) Napoleon III of the French.
Lover in 1856-1857.
"The Countess de Castiglione, widely considered the most beautiful woman of her day, may be unfamiliar to American audiences, but her life reads like a Hollywood drama. Born in Italy in 1837, she was sent to Paris at the age of eighteen as a special agent for the cause of Italian reunification, with the admonition from Cavour: Succeed by whatever means you wish --- but succeed!' Within weeks of her arrival in the French capital, she was the mistress of Emperor Napoleon III. In the years that followed, she fashioned herself into a mysterious recluse notorious for her many love affairs, and ended her days at the cusp of the new century, faded, unstable and alone. . . ." (La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione: 6)
"While there is abundant evidence on the question of Castiglione's relationship to Napoleon III, the Countess never admitted, either in her letters or in conversation, to having been his mistress. The only veiled allusion to this major event in her life is a clause in her will in which she asked to be buried in 'the Compiegne chemise of 1856, cambric and lace.' The liaison can be dated fairly precisely to between the Le Hon Ball, held at the carnival of 1856, and spring 1857 (the date of the attempt on the Emperor's life in the avenue Montaigne). The Countess was at the height of her social success when she appeared at a costume ball given by the Walewskis at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 17 February 1857, dressed as the Queen of Hearts (cat. 14). . . . (La Divine Comtesse: 60)
"Her cousin, Camillo, conte di Cavour, was a minister to Victor Emmanuel II, king of Sardinia, Piedmont and Savoy. When the Count and Countess travelled to Paris in 1885, the Countess was under her cousin's instructions to plead the cause of Italian unity with Napoleon III of France. She achieved notoriety by becoming Napoleon III's mistress, a scandal that led her husband to demand a marital separation. During her relationship with the French emperor in 1856 and 1857, she entered the social circle of European royalty. She met Augusta of Saxe-Weimar, Otto von Bismarck and Adolphe Thiers, among others." (La Divine Comtesse in Vintage Ephemera)
"She possessed a great beauty and Napoleon III was immediately interested in her. During the summer she became his mistress. The emperor visited her frequently, but she was unable to influence him politically. When a group of Italians tried to murder him after a visit to her in April, 1857, the affair ended. She was accused of spying and left for Italy." (androom)
"While there is abundant evidence on the question of Castiglione's relationship to Napoleon III, the Countess never admitted, either in her letters or in conversation, to having been his mistress. The only veiled allusion to this major event in her life is a clause in her will in which she asked to be buried in 'the Compiegne chemise of 1856, cambric and lace.' The liaison can be dated fairly precisely to between the Le Hon Ball, held at the carnival of 1856, and spring 1857 (the date of the attempt on the Emperor's life in the avenue Montaigne). The Countess was at the height of her social success when she appeared at a costume ball given by the Walewskis at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 17 February 1857, dressed as the Queen of Hearts (cat. 14). . . . (La Divine Comtesse: 60)
"Her cousin, Camillo, conte di Cavour, was a minister to Victor Emmanuel II, king of Sardinia, Piedmont and Savoy. When the Count and Countess travelled to Paris in 1885, the Countess was under her cousin's instructions to plead the cause of Italian unity with Napoleon III of France. She achieved notoriety by becoming Napoleon III's mistress, a scandal that led her husband to demand a marital separation. During her relationship with the French emperor in 1856 and 1857, she entered the social circle of European royalty. She met Augusta of Saxe-Weimar, Otto von Bismarck and Adolphe Thiers, among others." (La Divine Comtesse in Vintage Ephemera)
"She possessed a great beauty and Napoleon III was immediately interested in her. During the summer she became his mistress. The emperor visited her frequently, but she was unable to influence him politically. When a group of Italians tried to murder him after a visit to her in April, 1857, the affair ended. She was accused of spying and left for Italy." (androom)
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| Paul de Cassagnac, c1904 |
12) Paul de Cassagnac (1842-1904)
French politician & newspaper editor.
"1873-74: The Countess begins a liaison with Paul Granier de Cassagnac (1843-1904), spokesman for the Bonapartists and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Le Pays." (La Divine Comtesse: 20)
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Richard Seymour-Conway 4th Marquess of Hertford |
13) Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800-1870)
British aristocrat, politician & military officer
"The Marquess of Hertford apparently succeeded the Emperor, for the Count de Vieil-Castel wrote: 'Prince Napoleon affirmed to his sister the Lord Hertford had given one million to te Countess de Castiglione. He said that this was told him by Hertford himself" (The True Story of the Empress Eugenie: 84)
"Napoleon III wasn't the only famous man who became the Countess's lover. She also became the mistress of the Italian King, Victor Emmanuel II, who set her up in an apartment in Florence's splendid Pitti Palace and granted her a large pension. Her other lovers included Prince Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne and the fabulously wealthy Baron James de Rothschild." (lifeinitaly.com)
References for Virginia Oldoini.
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