"The nineteenth-century Italian aristocrat Virginia Oldoini, Countess de Castiglione, has been cast in many lights: narcissist, courtesan, spy, exhibitionist. In the photo studio of Mayer & Pierson, she played all these parts and one more-the role of self-portraitist. For decades, Oldoini helped conceptualize and starred in more than four hundred portraits so experimental and expressive that they have drawn comparisons to works by Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman."
"Never have I seen such a beauty, and never again will I see one like her," Princess Pauline Metternich recalled in a memoir. Oldoini arrived late at events so as to make a grand entrance. When she went to the theatre, audiences would allegedly stand and applaud at the sight of Oldoini in her box. "She is the queen of beauty, poise, and grace, and when she arrives, she looks like Venus strolling by.""
Virginia Oldoini, Countess de Castiglione, was a nineteenth-century Italian aristocrat born in Florence in 1837. She moved to Paris in 1855 as part of diplomatic efforts to promote Italian unification at Napoleon III's court. Renowned for her extraordinary beauty, Oldoini became a prominent figure in Parisian society, known for making dramatic entrances and commanding attention wherever she appeared. Over several decades, she collaborated with the photography studio Mayer & Pierson to create more than four hundred experimental and expressive self-portraits. These works were highly innovative and artistic, drawing comparisons to modern photographers Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman, establishing her as a pioneering self-portraitist.
#self-portraiture #nineteenth-century-photography #italian-aristocracy #experimental-art #countess-de-castiglione
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