Virginia Oldoini

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Michele Gordigiani : Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione, oil painting around 1862

Virginia Oldoini Verasis, Contessa di Castiglione , full name Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoïni (born March 22, 1837 in Florence , † November 28, 1899 in Paris ) was an Italian noblewoman and the mistress of the French Emperor Napoléon III for 2 years . She was a well-known model in the early history of photography and worked for the photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson.

Life

Pierre-Louis Pierson: La Castiglione , between 1863 and 1866

Virginia Oldoini was born in Florence, Tuscany , in 1837 , the daughter of Marchese Filippo Oldoini and his wife Isabella Lamporecchi. She received a very good upbringing and was fluent in four languages. Virginia was considered one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe and was called La Perla d'Italia .

At the age of 17 she married Francesco Verasis di Castiglione, cousin of Count Camillo Benso di Cavour and became Countess di Castiglione . The marriage gave birth to a son: Giorgio. The young couple went to Turin and were introduced to the court of the Savoy royal family . With her beauty, her intelligence and her charm, Virginia, called La Castiglione , managed to get the attention of King Victor Emanuel II in a very short time . All of this was not hidden from her cousin, the Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont , who recognized her special qualities at the court of the French Emperor Napoléon III. looked well placed. There La Castiglione was supposed to attract Napoleon's attention and convince him that France should take a position against Austria together with Italy .

Virginia Oldoini, 1893

After Sevastopol was conquered during the Crimean War in September 1855 with the participation of Piedmontese troops, the French emperor promised that Sardinia-Piedmont would also take part in the peace negotiations with Russia on the side of the victorious powers France, England and Turkey . After the liaison with Napoléon III. became public, the couple separated and La Castiglione stayed in Paris. During her two-year affair (1856-1858) with the French emperor, she was invited several times by the European nobility and statesmen; she met Princess Augusta of Prussia , Otto von Bismarck and Adolphe Thiers, among others .

Virginia Oldoini was known for her beauty and extravagance at the French court. In 1856 she sat as a model for court photographers Mayer & Pierson . She worked with Pierre-Louis Pierson on over 400 photographs, mainly on images depicting her bare legs or feet. Between 1857 and 1861 she lived in the newly founded Kingdom of Italy; after her return to France she lived in a villa in Passy . After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), she lived in a city apartment on Place Vendôme . Until her death in 1899 she lived more or less withdrawn in her Paris apartment and in Turin. She traveled a lot and had a large group of friends, but avoided public appearances. Her long night walks across Paris became legendary. Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione died on November 28, 1899 in her Paris apartment on Place Vendôme and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Worth mentioning

  • Robert de Montesquiou (1855–1921), a symbolist and art collector, was fascinated by the Countess di Castiglione. He wrote her biography La Divine Comtesse for a full thirteen years (published in 1913). He had over 275 photographs of La Castiglione ; In 1975 the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the collection.
  • In 1955 the life of the Countess di Castiglione was filmed in La Contessa di Castiglione ; the leading role played the American actress Yvonne De Carlo (1922-2007).
  • The famous Italian perfumer Stefano Frecceri created two fragrances on behalf of the Countess di Castiglione to express her personality.
  • In La Spezia, on the Piazza S. Agostino, a monument was erected in 2000 in honor of the Countess.

Photo gallery

  • Virginia Oldoini, 1861-1867

  • Virginia Oldoini, 1861-1867

  • Feet of Virginia Oldoini, 1894

  • The legs of Virginia Oldoini, 1863

literature

  • Claude Dufresne: La Comtesse de Castiglione: Maîtresse de Napoléon III, espionne et intrigante . Pygmalion, 2002, ISBN 2-85704-734-7 .
  • Isaure de Saint-Pierre: La Dame de Cœur, un amour de Napoléon III. 2006, ISBN 2-226-17363-3 .
  • La Castiglione by elle-même, ouvrage collectif . (catalog illustré), Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1999, ISBN 2-7118-3875-7 .
  • Abigail Solomon-Godeau : The Legs of the Countess. In: October No. 39 (Winter 1986), pp. 65-108. German: The Countess's legs. In: Liliane Weissberg (Ed.): Femininity as Masquerade , Frankfurt am Main 1994, pp. 90–147.
  • Alain Decaux: La Castiglione, Dame de Cœur de l'Europe . Amiot et Dumont, Paris 1953.
  • Frédéric Loliée: Les Femmes du Second Empire, la Cour des Tuileries . Jules Tallandier, Paris 1954.

Web links

Commons : Countess Virginia di Castiglione  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Andrea Hurton: Eroticism of perfume. History and practice of beautiful fragrances , Eichborn Verlag Frankfurt am Main (1991) ISBN 3-8218-1299-0
  2. ^ Virginia Oldoini di Castiglione
personal data
SURNAME Oldoini, Virginia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Castiglione, Virginia Oldoini Verasis Contessa di (full name); Oldoïni, Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antonietta Teresa Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian courtesan, model and mistress of the French Emperor Napoleon III.
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1899
Place of death Paris