They were well known in their time, forgotten now; some of their life events will be familiar, some are of their time but not ours. Three are from portrait sculptures by Pietro Canonica, plus one whose sculptor I have not yet discovered but whose story was told me by a living relative .
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“Donna Franca Florio at 30, 1904, after Canonica” Renowned for her elegance and beauty, born noble and married into wealth; by this time she had had four children (two had died, and yes she wore a corset). She lived to 77, in her final years dependent on her daughter and son-in-law, the fortune long frittered away by her spendthrift husband.. This print is a substantial size, 18 x 31 (27 vertical to the “edge” under her hand) inches.
“Princess Emily Doria-Pamphilij at 39, 1902, after Canonica” 6/22/18 12 x 18 inches Canonica made a few copies in marble, this one I photographed in the small museum of his work in Rome in November 2017. Much of his work was portraiture of nobility. The Pamphilij contributed a Pope around 400 years ago, they still hold vast wealth; Emily was British nobility, and married into the family. She died in the influenza epidemics, passing away at 56 in 1919. The ballroom is in a palace in Portugal that I photographed in August 2017.
Pietro Canonica sculpted her in plaster from a photograph, which plaster portrait I photographed in Rome in November 2017; she wasn’t entirely happy, pretending to have been playing in her new dress. The bronze from the plaster is on her grave in Turin, she died of typhoid there in 1907 at age nine. “Laura Vigo at nine, 1907, after Canonica” 18 x 27″ 1/23/2018
“Lucia Varrese at 16, 1921, after unknown” 26 x 39″ Buried in Rome, she died at 16 in 1921 of typhus. I photographed her marble portrait there in November 2017; I am still trying to find out who sculpted her. Here she was on vacation at Tivoli which I photographed just after finding her statue in Rome. Her mother had moved with her, the only child, from Chile to live with the mother’s sister after her father died; Lucia was starting a career of teaching piano. I have seen the black and white photograph that served the sculptor as a model. A large print, 26 x 39″ (67 x 100 cm).
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