Birth of Virginia Oldoini, the Countess of Castiglione
Virginia Oldoini, the Countess of Castiglione, was one of the most famous women of her time.
She was born to noble parents on 22nd March 1837.
Her full name was Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoini, her parents nicknamed her “Nicchia.”
Mr. and Mrs. Oldoini had high hopes for their daughter, they wanted her to make a good match and marry well.
Little did they know that their daughter would surpass all of their expectations, and become one of the most scandalous women of the 19th century.
Virginia was only 17 when her parents set her up with Francesco Verasis, the Count of Castiglione.
Before the wedding, however, Virginia was rumored to be having an affair with a hunky naval officer – proving that her scandalous attitude started early on.
Francesco was 12 years older than Virginia, and he wasn’t much to look at.
There was very little to appeal to the young and wild teenage bride.
The marriage would go on to give her Giorgio, her son whom she absolutely adored from the time of his birth.
Virginia was connected to many important and powerful people.
One of these connections was her cousin Camillo Benso, a minister for the King of Sardinia.
Benso called Virginia up with a plan, he needed her help in convincing French Emperor Napoleon III to help unify Italy.
Benso knew of his young cousin’s hypnotizing effect on men, and wanted to use her charms for political gain.
Virginia would go to Paris, and do whatever it took to make Napoleon fall in love with her….
Her marital status did nothing to lessen the effect she had on men, however.
And it did not put Napoleon off either.
Almost as soon as she reached France, Virginia became known as the president’s mistress.
A label she wore quite proudly.
Virginia quickly became popular in the French court as people became obsessed with her, Virginia’s beauty was named “a miracle.”
Even Napoleon was said to be entranced by his new mistress.
Every party she attended, she made sure she made a flamboyant entrance, stealing the eyes of almost everyone in the room.
While she may have had a physical hold over men, her personality often turned them off.
She was known to be vain and self-absorbed, and many times her dance partners found her more irritating than seductive.
One man noted, “After a few moments…she began to get on your nerves.”
During her time seducing Napoleon and balancing her husband, living extravagantly and unashamedly, the Countess de Castiglione found another hobby to keep her occupied.
She discovered the camera and photography, and became obsessed with taking photos of herself.
Not just a few, but over 700 photographs – she turned herself into the world’s first model.
In the 1800s, there were many rules that came with being a woman.
One was to have a certain amount of modesty.
The Countess seemed to not care too much for that rule, as she was known to take many risqué photos, some of which even showed her bare feet and legs, shocking!!
This was seen as very scandalous and caused quite a stir.
Virginia didn’t seem to mind though, as she continued to take these types of photos.
While some people might have seen the countess as being ahead of her time, others saw her as nothing more than a scandalous woman, who took immense pleasure in flaunting her body.
Nobody knows quite why, but by 1860, the affair with Napoleon was over, and the Countess of Castiglione found herself persona non grata at Napoleon’s court.
To add insult to injury, her husband filed for a separation, tired of his wife’s scandalous ways.
Virginia wasn’t down for long, she simply moved on to other affairs.
She found herself new rich lovers who could afford her expensive tastes.
Reportedly, Marquess Richard Seymour Conway once offered her 1 million francs to spend just 12 hours with her.
Virginia’s long suffering ex-husband, then decided to fight her for custody of their son, Giorgio.
Francesco claimed that his ex-wife’s lavish lifestyle was proof of her terrible mothering.
But Virginia refused to let her ex-husband win.
So she sent him a gift.
The gift was a photograph of herself, fully dressed in a luxurious gown – but with a knife hidden in the folds of her dress.
The title of the photo? “La Venegance.”
Francesco backed down quickly after that and Virginia kept custody of Giorgio.
Virginia loved her son, but she seemed strangely attached to him – more than is typical of a mother.
She would often make him join her in her photographs, turning him into quite the model himself – in fact, he became the most photographed child of the 19th century.
Sadly, and tragically little Giorgio contracted smallpox when he was still quite young, and in 1879 he died, leaving his mother absolutely devastated.
This seemed to be the start of the Countess’ inclusiveness and preference for darker themes in her life and photos.
Virginia’s behavior began to grow increasingly erratic as she got older.
She refused to leave her home in Paris, instead opting to become a full-blown recluse.
She closed all the curtains in her house and only left her home at night, dressed in black veils.
The Countess was battling darkness in her mind, from the loss of her son as well as her aging.
Vanity does not bode well for old age, and the countess was no exception.
She became convinced that everyone was staring at her, and she didn’t like what she thought they saw.
As the Countess got older, her photographs started to take on a more sinister edge.
They became sexually charged and even a little dark.
She posed inside a coffin, and in one photo she stood with the corpse of her dead puppy!
Even though the Countess took numerous photos of herself, she never had the chance to display them all in her lifetime.
Besides the unsolicited nude photos that she sent to friends, she began planning an enormous exhibit of her work.
She had over 700 photos that were set to be displayed at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
The Countess of Castiglione tragically passed away on 28th November 1899, just a year before the turn of the century.
As a result, her plans to showcase her work at the Exposition Universelle were cut short, and she never got to see how popular her photographs would become in the years after her death.
