A Love for Italy

      Now that Christmas and New Year's are behind us, the stores are filling up with hearts and candy for Valentine's Day, just right for my novella "The Valentine Poem."

The protagonists are a young woman who yearns to visit Italy and a gentleman of English and Italian heritage who's leading a double life as a sort of spy for the British government, keeping track of the many Italians in England. The setting is January and February of 1814 in London, a few months before the first fall and abdication of Napoleon and his exile to Elba. Italy is a patchwork of city states, principalities, and anarchy in the wake of Napoleon's short-lived attempt to unify the peninsula under his brother-in-law, Joachim  Murat (1767-1815) following decades of Italian discontent when mostly ruled by the Austrian Hapsburgs for most of the 18th century. Seething with political machinations, many of the exiles intrigued to plot changes in the Italian states, a potential threat to British interests. But the British loved Italy and Italian artists too.

Above, two of the Italian artists who captured accolades from Londoners in the the early 19th century; Left, Angelica Catalini (1780-1849), famed soprano; right, Antonio Canova (1757-1822), renowned sculptor.
     All through the long 18th century, Italian composers, musicians, artists, writers, and teachers found welcomes from British audiences for their work.
     Below, Angelica Kauffman, RA (1741-1807) self-portrait; Antonio Zucchi, RA (1726-1795), by Angelica Kauffman, his wife. They worked both individually and together on many projects in England, particularly wall and ceiling panels in buildings inspired by neoclassical architect/​designer Robert Adam and his family.

Above, left, "Design" by Kauffman, in the Royal Academy of Art; right, "Spring" a medallion by Zucchi in Kenwood House, London. Kauffman was one of only two women among the founders of the Royal Academy of Art.
     Not only the gifted found their way to England. The many wars and the crazy quilt of shifting political allegiances -- kingdoms, duchies, princpalities, domination by other nations -- led thousands of Italians north. Farmers, street peddlers, skilled artisans, seamen, and restauranteurs were a few of their occupations. Many of the exiles were conspiring to promote  schemes for the unification of the Italian peninsula, activities the British government wanted to keep tabs upon.

Above, Rome, 1757, by Giovanni Paolo Panini  Travel went in both directions with Italy often the destination of young men on their Grand Tour. Also, entire families sometimes moved from chilly England for health reasons as well as the culture. British museums are replete with Italian art treasures purchased and brought back by English tourists.

Above, The Portland Vase, c. lst century BC, The British Museum.  This precious vase was discovered in the 16th century and loaned, then sold to the museum by the Duke of Portland. In 1845 it was shattered by a drunken visitor and painstakingly reassembed from the fragments by museum personnel and further repaired in in 1989, a tour de force of restoration. The Portland vase inspired many other artists, perhaps most notably Josiah Wedgewood (1730-95), who reproduced versions and used the cameo themes widely in his ceramics.

Above left, Maria Cosway, self-potrait,1787; right, Maria Cosway, portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire as Cynthia in Spenser's The Fairie Queen, c. 1781, at Chatsworth House.
     I can't conclude until I acknowledge the incredible Maria Coasway, a composer and muscian as well as a renowned painter who exhibited her work at the Royal Academy. She is almost equally famous for her relationship with Thomas Jefferson, begun in 1786 Paris when he was envoy to France, and documented in numerous letters archived at the University of Virginia, the topic of both books and films. This well-known love affair should not dim our respect for her excellence in artistic fields rarely achieved by women in her time. Brava, Maria!