Advancing Women in Florence – recognising not only Artists.

Many important women, who died in Florence, and whose stories have largely been forgotten, will shortly be revisited through Santa Croce in Pink – a book uncovering the untold importance of these women.

There will also be guided tours to reveal their monuments – and their life stories – with a walk through the Basilica of Santa Croce.

This latest important project was launched by Jane Fortune  with editor Linda Falcone on 10 October 2013.

It is called Santa Croce in Pink – and is a recognition of the lives of many influential women who have lived and died in Florence and have consequently been emtombed in the Basilica of Santa Croce.

On October 10th I attended the introductory lectures for the project , which were all delivered in Italian, wherein a variety of scholars introduced these women and gave us some insights into the hitherto untold stories of their extraordinary lives.

The Conference was held in front of  the  Taddeo Gaddi version of The Last Supper in the Cenacolo of Santa Croce in Florence, which for me was a pleasure in itself as I am interested in studying all of the Last Suppers in and around the City – and this painting of a tiny Judas with a tiny mean face, with John not just leaning of Jesus’s shoulder but completely asleep in his lap, is one of the most extraordinary I have found!

The Conference also launched another book – as detailed below

Title: Santa Croce in Pink – Untold stories of Women and their Monuments
Editor: Linda Falcone
Authors: Giulia Bagioli, Jane Fortune, Donata Grossoni, Paola Vojnovic
Series: Santa Croce Guides
Publisher: Adriano Antonioletti Boratto, http://www.artecelata.it

Many of the previously unsung heroines covered by this book, published in both English and Italian , have glorious marble monuments in the Basilica of this church:- including two nieces of Napoleon, Charlotte Bonaparte, whose tomb is shown below, and Mathilde Bonaparte  the ill-matched wife of Anatoly Demidoff.

 I don’t intend to list all the women covered in the book, or try to rewrite them in any way, but the conference did encourage me to look again at the story of Louise of Stolberg -Gedern the unfortunate lady who made the mistake in 1772 of marrying the Jacobean Pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland- Charles Edward Stuart, once known to one and all as “Bonnie Prince Charlie!”

“Bonnie” Charlie he might have been when he took advantage of the “Auld Alliance” to persuade the French to finance an invasion of England in the ill-fated ’45 rebellion; but disappointment after his failure to persuade the English Jacobites to rise up in support of his claim to be Monarch of the Realm, and the subsequent five months on the run from the Duke of Cumberland , known as The Butcher, after the disasterous Battle of Culloden, took it’s toll on his health and good looks.

By the time he married the beautiful Louise, aged only 20, Charles Edward Stuart was no longer The “Young” Pretender but a 52 year old vagrant with a serious taste for the bottle.

His track record with women wasn’t good either and his one time lover, Miss Walkenshaw, had left him in 1760 unable to bear his brutality and taken refuge with their infant daughter in the Abbey of Meaux.

Charles and Louise moved to Florence in 1774 and lived in the Palazzo di San Clemente, aka Palazzo del Pretendente. on the corner of Via Michele where they assumed the title “Count and Countess of Albany” whilst they waited for the Pope to recognise the Jacobite succession and help them raise funds for another assault on the throne – and when this didn’t happen the marriage of the disappointed pair began to disintegrate.

In 1780 Louise too fled from her marriage to the man who would be King – finding sanctuary in the Convento delle Bianchette and from thence ultimately back to the arms of her secret lover , Italian Dramatist Vittorio Alfieri‘.

Although Alfieri had also had a chequered past with a series of disastrous affairs with other married women practically all across Europe, he became seriously attached to Louise – although still opposed the institution of marriage.

In 1786 when their relationship became public knowledge Alfieri began to live with her between Colmar in Alsace and in Paris ,where they held a famous salon for artists and intellectuals.

The August 10th 1792 insurrection of the French Revolution caused them to escape from Paris just two days before the republican authorities went to their home to arrest them.

They returned to Florence, where the pair lived together openly as lovers in Palazzo Gianfigliazzi, a mansion overlooking the River Arno until his death in 1803.

In Florence Louise re-established her famous salon, albeit on a smaller scale than in Paris.

Louise continued to live in Florence until in 1809  when she was summoned to Paris by Napoleon who was hoping to prove that she and  Charles Edward Stuart had had a child in the hope that such issue could be used to try and stir up insurrection again in Britain –  with which France was at war.

He was angry when she had to reply “No” and terminated their meeting abruptly .

It wasn’t until a whole year later that Louisa was allowed to return to Florence. where she died in January 1824 – and was buried in Santa Croce.

For more information about Advancing Women Artists  check  http://advancingwomenartists.org/about.php –

Most of Jane Fortune and Linda Falcone’s books are available through www.theflorentinepress.com.

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