Luisa Casati

Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957) with a greyhound by Giovanni Boldini

The Marchesa Luisa Casati (23 January 1881 in Milan - 1 June 1957 in London), born Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman, was an eccentric Italian heiress, muse and patroness of the arts in early 20th century Europe.

Early Life

The youngest daughter of a wealthy cotton manufacturer, Alberto Amman and his wife Lucia Bressi, Luisa Amman was born to a life of luxury. Her father was made a Count by King Umberto I for his contributions to the cotton industry. Contessa Amman died when Luisa was 13, and her father Conte Amman died two years later, making the Amman sisters the wealthiest women in Italy. Luisa married, in 1900, Marchese Camillo Casati Stampa di Soncino (born on 12 August 1877 in Milan), known as Marchese di Roma. A year later, their only child, Cristina Casati, named after Cristina Trivulzio, Principessa di Belgiojoso was born. After the early years of their marriage and the birth of their daughter, the couple maintained separate residences for the duration of their marriage. The marchese died on 18 September 1946 at age 69 in Rome.

Muse and Patroness

A celebrity and femme fatale, the marchesa's famous eccentricities dominated and delighted European society for nearly three decades. She captivated artists and literati figures such as Robert de Montesquiou, Erté, Jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton, and Jack Kerouac. She had a long term affair with the author Gabriele D'Annunzio. The character of Isabella Inghirami from D'Annunzio's Forse che si forse che no (1910) was said to have been inspired by her, as well as the character of La Casinelle, who appeared in two novels by Michel Georges-Michel, Dans la fete de Venise (1922) and Nouvelle Riviera (1924).

In 1910 Casati took residence at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Venitian Grand Canal (now the home of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection). Her soirées there would become legendary. Casati collected a menagerie of exotic animals, and patronized fashion designers such as Fortuny and Poiret. Later, when she had lost her immense wealth, the marchesa retired to England, spending her last years in London, where she died at the age of seventy-six. She was portrayed on the stage by Vivien Leigh in La Contessa (1965) and by Ingrid Bergman in the movie A Matter of Time (1976).

The beautiful and extravagant hostess to the Ballets Russes was something of a legend among her contemporaries. She astonished Venetian society by parading with a pair of leashed cheetahs and wearing live snakes as jewellery. Her numerous portraits were painted and sculpted by artists as various as Giovanni Boldini, Paolo Troubetzkoy, Romaine Brooks, Kees van Dongen, Man Ray and Augustus John; many of them she paid for, as a wish to "commission her own immortality".

She was muse to F. T. Marinetti, Fortunato Depero, Umberto Boccioni and, more recently, to Dita Von Teese. John Galliano based the 1998 Spring/Summer Christian Dior collection on her. Gowns from this collection have been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Fashion Institute.

As the concept of dandy was expanded in the twentieth century to include women, the marchesa Casati fitted the utmost female example by saying: "I want to be a living work of art".

Debt and flight

By 1930, Casati had amassed a personal debt of twenty-five million dollars. Unable to satisfy her creditors, her personal possessions were auctioned off. Rumour has it that among the bidders was Coco Chanel.

Luisa fled to London, where she lived in comparative poverty. She was rumoured to be seen rummaging in bins searching for feathers to decorate her hair. She died on 1 June 1957, and was interred in Brompton Cemetery. The quote "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety" from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra was inscribed on her tombstone.

References

• Ryersson, Scot D. (1999). Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati. New York: Viridian Books. ISBN 0-9670527-2-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• "www.marchesacasati.com": The official website devoted to the marchesa Casati, her biography 'Infinite Variety' and the Casati Archives.
• Peggy Guggenheim Collection: Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (Venice) where La Casati gave her most memorable extravaganzas.