Virginia di Castiglione (1837-1899) would have been better off being born a century later, or even 150 years later. In that case, her talent for modeling and her desire for self-promotion would have been more in demand than they were in the 19th century. She might have graced magazine covers, become a well-known influencer, and amassed a legion of fans on Instagram. On the other hand, it was precisely her era that allowed Virginia to be unique and irreplaceable.
The Florentine Countess Castiglione, born Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antoinetta Teresa Maria Aldobrandini, entered history as the first model. Throughout her life, she spun many intrigues, influenced the political landscape of Europe, captivated the high society of Paris, and left behind hundreds of staged photographs, most of which are preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
“The Most Beautiful Woman of the Century”
This is how Virginia referred to herself. However, beauty standards are ever-changing. The lady who once stirred the imaginations of many men might not be considered a classic beauty today. Or perhaps she never was, but she made everyone believe she was the most beautiful. The roots of her persuasive charm likely lay in her supernatural charisma. It was this quality that allowed Countess Castiglione to capture men’s hearts and manipulate politicians.
She found ordinary life boring. So, she transformed her existence into an endless carnival of images captured by leading Parisian photographers. Notably, Pierre-Louis Pierson, who took around 700 portraits of the countess. She was madly in love with the young art of photography, which reciprocated her affection. The aristocrat tirelessly concocted storylines for her photos, selected new costumes—often theatrical—created sets for shoots, and directed them. Virginia di Castiglione was a true revolutionary and experimenter, thinking in terms of angles and completed series. She achieved remarkable heights in retouching, coloring, and collaging her images (a skill that became particularly useful as her youth faded). Even now, the countess’s creative endeavors, such as her bold collection of leg photographs, which spanned her entire life, resemble fully realized photo projects.
She was bored with living within conventional boundaries. After marrying Count Castiglione at 16 and giving birth to a son, she soon radically changed her life. Within a few years, Virginia became the favorite of Napoleon III and, at the request of her cousin, convinced the French emperor not to oppose the unification of Italy. The woman who was welcomed into the salons of Parisian high society was rumored to have had romantic liaisons with Italian monarch Victor Emmanuel II, Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck, and other prominent political figures of the time. It seems that in the undercurrents of politics, the countess felt as at home as she did in front of the camera.
Her inability to live a dull life drove Virginia to multiply her photographs, in which she appeared in various guises. She wanted to be recognized in a world that was still far from the advent of social media. And perhaps she dreamed that the world would remember her as she appeared in the famous photograph “Queen of Hearts.”
Instead of an Epilogue
Looking ahead, it’s worth noting that later generations did remember her and even dedicated films, literary works, and paintings to her. A passionate admirer of the countess, Robert de Montesquiou, a poet, aesthetician, and collector, spent 13 years after Virginia’s death writing her biography, which was published in 1913. This dandy eagerly collected photographic portraits of his goddess, eventually amassing over four hundred. These portraits later found their way into the collections of the New York museum.
Portrait of Countess di Castiglione, Michele Gordigiani, 1862.
… Life, especially an exciting one, is not immune to aging. In the time of the socialite Virginia di Castiglione, aging began much earlier than it does today. Interestingly, in 1863, one of the countess’s contemporaries referred to her as “a stately woman no longer in her first youth.” At that time, Virginia was only 26 years old.
She feared aging more than death. Living out the twilight of her life in Place Vendôme in Paris, the former favorite of renowned men covered mirrors and windows with fabric. She only ventured out at night.
When it became known that the 1900 World’s Fair would take place in Paris, she perked up and decided to exhibit five hundred of her photographic images in its pavilions. It was not meant to be: Virginia di Castiglione passed away in 1899 at the age of 62, just a year before the dawn of the 20th century—the era of photographic art and the rise of models.
And there was an ironic logic to this. The countess did not have to share her fame as the first known model. It was solely her glory, her historical niche, her 19th century.