Maria Zambaco

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria with Cupid (1870)

Maria Theresia Zambaco (actually Maria Theresia Cassavetti ; born April 29, 1843 in London , † July 14, 1914 in Paris ) was a British sculptor , model and muse of the Pre-Raphaelites .

Life

Maria Theresia Cassavetti was the daughter of a wealthy merchant who had to flee Greece from the Turks around 1830 . She received an education that was excellent for the time, including learning Greek , Italian , French , literature , music and drawing . Together with her cousins, Marie Spartali and Aglaia Ionides, she modeled for James McNeill Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rossetti . She frightened her first admirer, George du Maurier, who was also studying art in Paris, and described her as 'impolite and aloof, but with great talent and wonderful beauty'.

In 1860 Maria Theresia Cassavetti married the doctor Robert Zambaco in London and in 1861 they both moved to Paris. She separated from her husband and returned to England with her two children in 1866. Her mother, a patron of the arts , ordered a portrait of her daughter from the famous painter Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) .

Shortly thereafter, Maria began a love affair with Burne-Jones . In January 1869, Burnes' wife Georgie found a letter addressed to him in his clothes and he ended the affair. Maria threatened to kill himself with laudanum , so that their stormy relationship became public in their circles. During this time, a number of pictures were taken with her face, which Burne-Jones became an obsession until his death .

In the 1880s Maria began sculpting, first with Alphonse Legros at the Royal Academy in London and then in Paris, where she was a student of Auguste Rodin .

Maria Zambaco died on July 14, 1914 in Paris and was buried in the Greek Orthodox section of West Nordwood Cemetery. The name on her grave is Maria Tepsithia Kassavetti.

Model (selection)

  • The Lament (1866)

  • Portrait of Maria Zambaco, 1871

  • The Beguiling of Merlin , oil on canvas (1874)

  • The Angel , oil on canvas (1881)

literature

  • Penelope Fitzgerald: Edward Burne-Jones , London (1975)
  • Stephan Wildman and John Christian: Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 , Réunion des Musées Nationeaux, Paris (1999)

Web links

Commons : Maria Zambaco  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Zambaco, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zambaco, Maria Theresia (full name); Cassavetti, Maria Theresia (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British sculptor, model and muse of the Pre-Raphaelites
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1914
Place of death Paris