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Maria Cosway

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Maria Cosway
Self-portrait, 1787
Born
Maria Luisa Caterina Cecilia Hadfield

(1760-06-11)11 June 1760
Florence,Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died5 January 1838(1838-01-05)(aged 77)
Lodi,Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia
NationalityItalian and English
Known forPainter ofportrait miniatures
SpouseRichard Cosway

Maria Luisa Caterina Cecilia Cosway(ma-RYE-ah[citation needed];néeHadfield;11 June 1760 – 5 January 1838) was an Italian-English painter, musician, and educator. She worked in England, France, and later Italy, cultivating a large circle of friends and clients, mainly as an initiate of Swedish and FrenchIlluminismand an enthusiastic revivalist of theMasonic Knights Templar[citation needed].

She exhibited at theRoyal Academy of Arts,and commissioned the first portrait ofNapoleonto be seen in England. Her paintings and engravings are held by theBritish Museum,theBritish Library,and theNew York Public Library.Her work was included in London exhibitions at theNational Portrait Galleryin 1995–96 andTate Britainin 2006.

Cosway was an accomplished composer, musician, and society hostess with her husband, painterRichard Cosway.She had a brief romantic relationship with widowed American statesmanThomas Jeffersonin 1786 while he served in Paris as the envoy to France; the pair kept up a correspondence until his death in 1826.

Cosway founded a girls' school in Paris, which she directed from 1803 to 1809. Soon after it closed, she founded a girls' college and school inLodi,northern Italy, which she directed until her death. She bequeathed the school to the Catholic Institute of the "English Ladies" (Dame inglesiin Italian), a branch of the religious Order founded byMary Ward,now seat of the "Fondazione Maria Cosway" (Maria Cosway Foundation).

She was made a Baroness of theAustrian Empirein 1834 (Lodi was then in theKingdom of Lombardy–Venetia,a State of theHouse of Habsburg-Lorraine).

Childhood in Italy

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Maria Cosway by her husband,Richard Cosway

She was born in 1760 inFlorence,Italy, to Charles Hadfield, said to have been a native ofShrewsbury,England, and an Italian mother. Her father was a successful innkeeper atLivorno,where he had become very wealthy.[1][2][3][4]The Hadfields operated three inns inTuscany,frequented by British aristocrats taking theGrand Tour.[5][6]One of eight children, Maria demonstrated artistic talent at a young age during herRoman Catholicconvent education. She remained a devout Catholic all her life.

Four of the Hadfield children were killed by a mentally ill nursemaid, who was caught after being overheard talking about killing Maria. The nurse claimed that her young victims would be sent to Heaven after she killed them. She was sentenced to life in prison. Maria, her brothers Richard and George, and a younger sister Charlotte were the survivors.[7]

At her father's death, Maria expressed a strong desire to become a nun. Three years later, her mother and she travelled to England; they settled in London in 1779.

Maria's brotherGeorge Hadfieldbecame an architect and designedArlington HouseinVirginia.It later was owned byRobert E. Lee,noted as aConfederategeneral during theAmerican Civil War.[8]

Early career

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While still in Florence, Maria Hadfield studied art underViolante CerrotiandJohann Zoffany.From 1773 to 1778, she copied Old Masters at theUffiziGallery. For her work, she was elected to theAcademia del Disegnoin Florence in 1778.[6]She also went to Rome, where she studied art underPompeo Batoni.She studied withAnton Raphael Mengs,Henry Fuseli,andJoseph Wright of Derby.

Two women artists,Angelica KauffmanandMary Moser,were among the original members of theRoyal Academy of Artsin London in 1768. Kauffmann helped Maria Hadfield to participate in academy exhibitions. In 1781, she exhibited for the first time, showing:Rinaldo,Creusa appearing to Aeneas(engraved inmezzotintby V. Green), andLike patience on a monument smiling at grief.[7]Hadfield went on to gain success as a painter ofmythologicalscenes.[9][failed verification]

Marriage and social success

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Richard Cosway's self-portrait inminiature,circa1770

On 18 January 1781, Maria Hadfield married a fellow artist, celebratedminiature portraitpainterRichard Cosway,in what is thought to have been amarriage of convenience.He was 20 years her senior, known as a libertine, and was repeatedly unfaithful to her.[4][8]Richard was "commonly described as resembling a monkey."[10]

Her Italian manners were so foreign that her husband kept Maria secluded until she fully mastered the English language. Cosway also forbade his wife from selling her paintings, possibly out of fear of the gossip[further explanation needed]that surrounded female painters. HerSelf-Portrait with Arms Foldedis seen as a response to his limitation of her work, her folded arms acting as a sign of her inability to practice.[11]But, in time he realised his wife's talent and helped her to develop it.[12]More than 30 of her works were displayed at theRoyal Academy of Artfrom 1781[13]until 1801.[6]She soon enhanced her reputation as an artist, especially when her portrait of theDuchess of Devonshirein the character of Cynthia fromThe Faerie Queenewas exhibited. Among her personal acquaintances wereLady Lyttelton;the acclaimed sculptorHon. Mrs. Damer,the Countess of Aylesbury; Lady Cecilia Johnston, wife ofGeneral James Johnston;and theMarchioness of Townshend.

Georgianaas Cynthia (another name for the goddessDiana) fromSpenser'sFaerie Queene.Painting by Maria Cosway circa 1782,Bakewell,Chatsworth House.

In 1784, the Cosways moved intoSchomberg House,Pall Mall,and developed a fashionable salon for London society. Richard was a principal painter of thePrince of Wales,and Maria served as hostess to artists, members of royalty including the Prince, and politicians includingHorace Walpole,Gouverneur Morris,andJames Boswell.[1][3][4]She could speak several languages, and due to her travels in Italy and France, she gained an international circle of friends.[3][9]These includedAngelica Schuyler Churchand artistJohn Trumbull.Maria Cosway organised concerts and recitals for her guests. She became known as "The Goddess of Pall-Mall".[4]The Cosways employed the former slaveOttobah Cugoanoas a servant. In 1791, they moved to Stratford Place where they undertook substantial renovations.[14]

Richard and Maria had one child together, Louisa Paolina Angelica, but the couple eventually separated. Maria often travelled on the Continent, on one occasion accompanied byLuigi Marchesi,a famous Italiancastrato.(Richard Cosway had painted his portrait, which afterward was engraved byLuigi Schiavonetti(1790). At the same time, Richard was having an open affair with Mary Moser, with whom he travelled for six months. In his notebooks, he made "invidious comparisons between her and Mrs Cosway," implying that she was much more sexually responsive than his wife.[15]

When staying inLyon,France, Maria Cosway made a pilgrimage to the shrine of theVirgin MaryatLoreto.This was to fulfill a vow she had made after giving birth to a living child. While she was travelling on the Continent, her young daughter Louisa died.

Work in Napoleonic France

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Engraving byFrancesco Bartolozziof Maria Cosway's paintingThe Hours,described by Jacques-Louis David as "ingenious"

Throughout this period, Cosway cultivated international contacts in the art world. When she sent an engraving of her allegorical paintingThe Hoursto her friend, French painterJacques-Louis David,he replied, "On ne peut pas faire une poésie plus ingénieuse et plus naturelle"(" one could not create a more ingenious or more natural poetic work ").[16]Cosway became well known throughout France and had customers from all over the Continent.[12]

Cosway also showed an interest in French politics. In 1797, then living onOxford Streetin London, she commissioned artist Francesco Cossia to create what was to be the first portrait of Napoleon seen in England. Cosway may have been the first person in Britain to see the face of Napoleon.[3]Her commission of the portrait was later called the "earliest recorded evidence of British admiration for Napoleon."[3]Later acquired bySir John Soane,the painting is displayed in the Breakfast Room ofSir John Soane's Museum.[3]

While living in Paris between 1801 and 1803, Cosway copied the paintings of the Old Masters from theLouvrefor publication as etchings in England. After the death of her daughter while she was in France, she did not finish the project.

Maria Cosway met Napoleon while copyingNapoleon Crossing the Alpsby her friend David. She became close friends with Napoleon's uncle, CardinalJoseph Fesch.During thePeace of Amiens,she gave British visitors tours of the cardinal's art collection. One historian pointed out that her admiration for Napoleon may have been inspired by her then-loverPasquale Paoli,aCorsicangeneral in exile in London, who had been an associate of Bonaparte's.[3]

Relationship with Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jeffersonin 1788 byJohn Trumbull:An intimate friend, Maria and he corresponded for the rest of their lives after his time in Paris.

At the Grain Market (Halles aux Bleds), in Paris, August 1786,John Trumbullintroduced the Cosways to Jefferson, then a widower at 43 serving as American minister to France. Maria was 27.[9]Jefferson then begged off his scheduled dinner companion, saying he needed to tend to official business, and instead spent the evening with Maria at thePalais Royal.[10]

Cosway and Jefferson shared an interest in art and architecture; together, they attended exhibits throughout the city and countryside.[17]He would write of their adventures: "How beautiful was every object! thePont du Neuilly,the hills along theSeine,the rainbows of the Machine ofMarly,the terraces ofSaint Germain,the chateaux, the gardens, the statues of Marly, the Pavilion ofLouveciennes... In the evening, when one took a retrospect of the day, what a mass of happiness had we travelled over! "[10]Over the course of six weeks,[9]Jefferson developed a romantic attachment to Cosway, spending each day with her.

At her husband's insistence, the Cosways departed for London.[9]Jefferson's 4,000-word "The Dialogue of the Head vs. the Heart" love letter followed dated 12–13 October 1786. He describes his head conversing with his heart—a struggle between the practical and theromantic.[18]

I feel more fit for death than life. But when I look back on the pleasures of which it is a consequence, I am conscious they were worth the price I am paying.

– Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, "A Dialogue of the Head vs. the Heart"

Scholars suggest that Jefferson was particularly partial to a romantic attachment at this point in his life.Martha Jeffersonhad died four years before, he had just learned of the death of his youngest daughter Lucy, and his other two daughters were away at school.[19]During the same period, Jefferson began a relationship withSally Hemings,a mixed-race enslaved girl and the half-sister of his late wife, at the time aged between 14 and 16, who was pregnant by him when the household returned to the United States in 1789.[20][21][22]

At least one account held that Cosway began to develop stronger feelings for Jefferson, but when she travelled to Paris to meet him again, she found him more distant.[9]

A devout Catholic who did not want to have children, she worried about pregnancy. Some historians believe nothing further developed besides correspondence. Since Jefferson was very discreet, no one knows for certain the extent of their relationship.[9][23]Jefferson eventually stopped writing her until some time later, when she contacted him; their renewed correspondence continued until his death.[17][19][24]Historians such as Andrew Burstein have suggested the relationship was romantic mostly on Jefferson's side, and that Cosway was his opposite, more artistic than rational.[25]Their correspondence survives.[9]Before Jefferson left Paris, he wrote her, "I am going to America and you are going to Italy. One of us is going the wrong way, for the way will ever be wrong that leads us further apart."[19]

Cosway introduced Jefferson to her friendAngelica Schuyler Church,the sister-in-law of his rivalAlexander Hamilton.Church kept up a correspondence with both Jefferson and Cosway in later life; her correspondence with them is held at theUniversity of Virginia's archive.[26]

Cosway and Jefferson both held images of the other. He kept an engraving byLuigi Schiavonettifrom a drawing by Maria's husband.[3][8]Trumbull was commissioned by Maria to paint a portrait of Jefferson;[26]this remained in the collection of Cosway's paintings and papers looked after by the nuns at the convent school she had founded in Lodi until the Italian government put immense pressure on the nuns at the American Bicentennial to relinquish it, so that Italy could give it to theWhite House,where it remains aside from a brief display as part of aSmithsonianexhibition.[8]

Later life

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Cosway eventually returned to the Continent, travelled with her brotherGeorge Hadfieldin Italy, where she lived in the north for three years, and then returned to England after her daughter's death at age six, concentrating on painting, completing several religious pictures for chapels.

Despite Napoleon's war with England, she travelled to France. In Paris, Cardinal Joseph Fesch persuaded her to establish a college for young ladies, which she managed from 1803 until 1809. TheDuke of Lodiinvited her to Italy to establish aconventand Catholic school for girls inLodi(nearMilan). She directed theCollegio delle Graziein northern Italy until her death in 1838.

In 1821, Cosway briefly returned to England to care for her husband before his death. With the aid of her friendSir John Soane,she auctioned Richard's large art collection, and used the funds to support the convent school.[4][7]For a short time, following the death of Richard Cosway, her close friend Sir John Soane served as the executor to her estate.[27]

In a letter to Jefferson (held by the University of Virginia), Cosway mourned the loss of mutual old friends following the death of Angelica Schuyler Church.[28]As a tribute to Church, Cosway designed a temple ceiling depicting theThree Gracessurrounding her friend's name.[26]In June 1826, she wrote to Italian engraverGiovanni Paolo Lasinio,Junior, respecting the publication of her husband's drawings in Florence.[7][29]

The end of her life included service at her school, and making substantial renovations and additions to the medieval building. Cosway died in 1838 at her school in Lodi. Amongst her bequests was one forCharlotte Jones,who was a previous student of her husband's, but who had failing eyesight at the end of her life.[30]

Collections

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Cosway's engravings from the Old Masters of the Louvre are held in the collection of the British Museum.[7]Two of her paintings that relate to a poem byMary Robinsonwere acquired by theNew York Public Library.They were included in the exhibitGothic Nightmares: Fuseli,Blakeand theRomanticImaginationat theTate Britainmuseum in London in 2006.[31]

From 1995 to 1996, theNational Portrait Galleryin London held an exhibition entitledRichard and Maria Cosway: Regency Artists of Taste and Fashion,displaying 250 of their works.[4]

Works and reproductions

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Cosway's principal works exhibited at the Royal Academy and later engraved are:

  • Clytie(engraved by V. Green; engraver's name shown in parentheses below)
  • The Descent from the Cross(V. Green)
  • Astrea instructing Arthegal(V. Green)
  • The Judgment on Korah, Dathan, and Abiram(S. W. Reynolds)
  • A Persian(Emma Smith)
  • H.R.H. the Princess of Wales and the Princess Charlotteby S. W. Reynolds
  • The HoursbyFrancesco Bartolozzi
  • Lodonaby Francesco Bartolozzi
  • The Guardian Angel,by S. Phillips
  • Going to the Temple,byPeltro William Tomkins
  • The Birth of the Thames,by Tomkins
  • Creusa appearing to Aeneasby V. Green
  • The Preservation of Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego,by W. S. Reynolds
  • Louis VII, King of France, before Becket's Tomb,by W. Sharp.

Cosway drewThe Progress of Female DissipationandThe Progress of Female Virtue,published in 1800. She also published a series of 12 designs, entitledThe Winter's Daycontributed toBoydell'sShakespeare GalleryandMacklin'sPoets.She etched all the plates in a large folio work entitledGallery of the Louvre, represented by etchings executed solely by Mrs. Maria Cosway, with an Historical and Critical Description of all the Pictures which compose the Superb Collection, and a Biographical Sketch of the Life of each Painter, by J. Griffiths, &c. &c.,(1802). Her numerous other plates, some in soft-ground etching, are held mostly by theBritish Library.[7]

In film

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ab"Gazelle Book Services Limited".Gazelle Book Services. Archived fromthe originalon 10 May 2007.Retrieved1 August2007.
  2. ^The Living Age: By Making of America Project.University of Michigan. 1858. p. 816.Retrieved1 August2007.
  3. ^abcdefghSalomon, Xavier F., and Christopher Woodward. (1 October 2005)."How England first saw Bonaparte: a painting by Francesco Cossia commissioned by Maria Cosway in 1797 was the first true portrait of Napoleon to be seen in England. It was acquired by Sir John Soane, who, as Xavier F. Salomon and Christopher Woodward explain, juxtaposed it with a miniature by Isabey in a comparison of the youthful hero with the tyrannical dictator".Apollo – The International Art Magazine.Retrieved1 August2007.{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^abcdef"An artistic alliance – Richard and Maria Cosway – English artists".Magazine Antiques. December 1995.Retrieved1 August2007.[dead link]
  5. ^Pomponi, Francis (September 2004)."Pascal Paoli à Maria Cosway, Lettres et documents, 1782–1803".Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française(in French) (337). Société des études robespierristes: 227–230.doi:10.4000/ahrf.1565.Retrieved1 August2007.
  6. ^abc"Maria Cosway, née Hatfield (1760–1838)".Tate Britain. Archived fromthe originalon 29 September 2007.Retrieved1 August2007.
  7. ^abcdef"Cosway, Maria Cecilia Louisa".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. pp. 278–279.
  8. ^abcdDeMauri, Stephen (December 2003)."Thomas Jefferson's Engraving of Maria Cosway".Monticello Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon 13 July 2007.Retrieved1 August2007.
  9. ^abcdefgh"Thomas Jefferson: Biography".National Park Service.Retrieved1 August2007.
  10. ^abc"JEFFERSON'S PARIS".American Heritage. Archived fromthe originalon 29 September 2007.Retrieved1 August2007.
  11. ^Frances Borzello,Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-portriature1998.
  12. ^abHenry Gardiner,A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography,p. 214
  13. ^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Maria Cosway".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  14. ^Darley, Gillian (1999).John Soane: an accidental romantic.New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-08165-0.OCLC42038859.
  15. ^Schuchard, Marsha Keith,Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Erotic Imagination,Pimlico, 2008, p. 253
  16. ^Bordes, Philippe, "Jacques-Louis David's Anglophilia on the Eve of the French Revolution",The Burlington Magazine,1992, p. 485.
  17. ^ab"Jefferson, Thomas".Britannica.Retrieved1 August2007.
  18. ^Jefferson, Thomas (12 October 1786)."Head and Heart Letter".PBS.org.Retrieved1 August2007.
  19. ^abc"Natalie Bober: Historian".PBS.org.Retrieved1 August2007.
  20. ^Foster, Eugene (5 November 1998)."Jefferson fathered slave's last child".Nature.396(6706): 27–28.doi:10.1038/23835.Retrieved6 April2024.
  21. ^Jordan, Daniel (26 January 2000)."Statement on the Report by TJF President Daniel P. Jordan".www.monticello.org/.Retrieved6 April2024.
  22. ^Hemings, Madison (13 March 1873)."Recollections of Madison Hemings".Pike County Republican.Retrieved6 April2024.
  23. ^Ellis, Joseph (1996)
  24. ^Norman K. Risjord (1994).Thomas Jefferson.Rowman & Littlefield. p. 174.ISBN9780945612391.Retrieved1 August2007.
  25. ^"Andrew Burstein: Historian".PBS.org.Retrieved1 August2007.
  26. ^abc"Muse and Confidante: Angelica Schuyler Church".University of Virginia.Retrieved1 August2007.
  27. ^Barnett, Gerald (1995).Richard and Maria Cosway: a biography.Tiverton, Devon: Westcountry Books.ISBN1-898386-23-4.OCLC36083752.
  28. ^Cosway, Maria (7 April 1819)."Maria Cosway to Thomas Jefferson, 7 April 1819".founders.archives.gov.Princeton University Press.Retrieved7 April2024.
  29. ^The folio volume is entitled:Raccolta di Disegni Originali scelti dai Portafogli del celebre Riccardo Cosway, R.A., e primo pittore del Serenissimo Principe di Wallia, posseduti dalla di lui vedova, la Signora Maria Cosway, e intagliati da Paolo Lasinio, figlio(1826).
  30. ^Annette Peach, ‘Jones, Charlotte (1768–1847)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004accessed 17 Jan 2015
  31. ^"Room 4: Gothic Gloom".Tate Britain. Archived fromthe originalon 29 September 2007.Retrieved1 August2007.

Further reading

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  • Burnell, Carol.Divided Affections: The Extraordinary Life of Maria Cosway, Celebrity Artist and Thomas Jefferson's Impossible Love
  • Byrd, Max.Jefferson(1993)
  • Lloyd, Stephen.Richard and Maria Cosway,Edinburgh and London (1995)
  • Barnett, Gerald.Richard and Maria Cosway: A Biography
  • Beran, Michael Knox.Jefferson's Demons: Portrait of a Restless Mind
  • Beretti, Francis (ed.).Pascal Paoli à Maria Cosway, Lettres et documents, 1782–1803,Oxford, Voltaire Foundation (2003)
  • Brodie, Fawn.Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History.New York: Norton (1974)
  • Halliday, E. M.Understanding Thomas Jefferson
  • Kaminski, John P.Jefferson in Love: The Love Letters Between Thomas Jefferson and Maria Cosway
  • McCullough, David.John Adams
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