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Kitty Fisher
Catherine Maria Fischer (1 June 1741 – 10 March 1767), known as Kitty Fisher, was a prominent British courtesan. From her teenage years onward, Fisher developed a carefully molded public image, which was enhanced by acknowledgement from Sir Joshua Reynolds and other artists. By emphasizing Fisher's beauty, audacity, and charm, portraits of her, along with newspaper and magazine articles promoted her reputation, prompting spectators to view her with awe. She was one of the world's first celebrities who was not famous for being an actress, musician, or member of the royalty, but simply for being famous. Her life exemplifies the emergence of mass media publishing and fame in an era when capitalism, commercialism, global markets, and rising emphasis on public opinion were transforming England. Early life and time as a courtesan Born in London,A German background, suggested as a possibility in the ''Dictionary of National Biography'', is based on Sir Joshua Reynolds' spelling of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769. Early life Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723 the third son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, master of the Plympton Free Grammar School in the town. His father had been a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, but did not send any of his sons to the university. One of his sisters was Mary Palmer (1716–1794), seven years his senior, author of ''Devonshire Dialogue'', whose fondness for drawing is said to have had much influence on him when a boy. In 1740 she provided £60, half of the premium paid to Thomas Hudson the portrait-painter, for Joshua's pupilage, and nine years later a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giacomo Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. As was not unusual at the time, Casanova, depending on circumstances, used more or less fictitious names, such as baron or count of Farussi (the maiden name of his mother) or Chevalier de Seingalt (). He often signed his works as "Jacques Casanova de Seingalt" after he began writing in French following his second exile from Venice. He has become so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women that his name is now synonymous with "womanizer". Many of his exploits would be considered predatory by modern standards, however, including affairs with the emotionally vulnerable as well as the underaged. He associated with European royalty, popes, and cardinals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Portrait Gallery (London)
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off Trafalgar Square, and adjoining the National Gallery (London), National Gallery. It has been expanded twice since then. The National Portrait Gallery also has regional outposts at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire and Montacute House in Somerset. It is unconnected to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, with which its remit overlaps. The gallery is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Collection The gallery houses portraits of historically important and famous British people, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter, not that of the artist. The collection includes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Hone The Elder
Nathaniel Hone (24 April 1718 – 14 August 1784) was an Irish-born portrait and miniature painter, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Early life The son of a Dublin-based Dutch merchant, Hone moved to England as a young man and, after marrying Molly Earle - daughter of the Duke of Argyll - in 1742, eventually settled in London, by which time he had acquired a reputation as a portrait-painter. While his paintings were popular, his reputation was particularly enhanced by his skill at producing miniatures and enamels. He interrupted his time in London by spending two years (1750–1752) studying in Italy. Works As a portrait painter, several of his works are now held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. His sitters included magistrate Sir John Fielding and Methodist preacher John Wesley, and General Richard Wilford and Sir Levett Hanson in a double portrait. He often used his son John Camillus Hone (1745–1836) in some of his works, inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Hone, Catherine Maria ''Kitty'' Fisher
, nickname = {{Plainlist, * Nat * Nate , footnotes = Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Greek name Nathanael. People with the name Nathaniel * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * Nate Archibald (born 1948), American basketball player * Nathaniel Ayers (born 1951), American musician who is the subject of the 2009 film ''The Soloist'' * Nathaniel Bacon (1647–1676), Virginia colonist who instigated Bacon's Rebellion * Nathaniel Prentice Banks (1816–1894), American politician and American Civil War General * Nat Bates (born 1931), two-term mayor of Richmond, California * Nathaniel Berhow (2003–2019), perpetrator of the Saugus High School shooting in 2019 * Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838), American mathematician, father of modern maritime navigation * Nathaniel Buzolic (born 1983), Australian actor * Nathaniel Chalobah (born 1994), English footballer * Nathaniel Clayton (1833–1895), British politician * Nat King Cole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrea Di Robilant
Andrea di Robilant (born in Rome, Italy) is an italian people, Italian journalist and writer. Early life and education Di Robilant was born in Rome and attended a Swiss boarding school, Institut Le Rosey. He moved to New York for university, where he earned his BA in History in 1979 from Columbia College (New York), Columbia College and his MA in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in 1980. He is the eldest of three sons of Count Alvise Nicolis di Robilant e Cereaglio, of Piedmontese and Venetian ancestry, and American Elizabeth, née Stokes. His father, a descendant of Italian statesman and diplomat Carlo Felice Nicolis, conte di Robilant, was managing director of Sotheby's in Italy; he was found murdered in his apartment in the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence in 1997, aged 72. The murder remains unsolved. Other members of his family include General Mario Nicolis di Robilant, who commanded the Italian Fourth Army (Italy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaise
A one-horse chaise A three-wheeled "Handchaise", Germany, around 1900, designed to be pushed by a person A chaise, sometimes called chay or shay, is a light two- or four-wheeled traveling or pleasure carriage for one or two people with a folding hood or calash top. The name, in use in England before 1700, came from the French word "chaise" (meaning " chair") through a transference from a sedan-chair to a wheeled vehicle. Design The two-wheeled version, usually of a chair-backed type, for one or two persons, also called a ''gig'' or ''one-horse shay'', had a body hung on leather straps or thorough-braces and was usually drawn by one horse; a light chaise having two seats was a ''double chair''. A ''chaise-cart'' was a light carriage fitted with suspension, used for transporting lightweight goods. A ''bath chair'' was a hooded and sometimes glassed wheeled chair used especially by invalids; it could be drawn by a horse or pushed by an attendant. Other types of chaise includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livery
A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in the livery. Alternatively, some kind of a personal emblem or badge, or a distinctive colour, is featured. The word itself derives from the French ''livrée'', meaning ''dispensed, handed over''. Most often it would indicate that the wearer of the livery was a servant, dependant, follower or friend of the owner of the livery, or, in the case of objects, that the object belonged to them. In the late medieval phenomenon of bastard feudalism, livery badges worn by the "retainers" of great lords, sometimes in effect private armies, became a great political concern in England. Etymology "In the ''Black'' Book of 1483, it was laid down that each person should receive "... for his Livery at night, half a chet loaf, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. The area was originally part of the manor of Eia and remained largely rural until the early 18th century. It became well known for the annual "May Fair" that took place from 1686 to 1764 in what is now Shepherd Market. Over the years, the fair grew increasingly downmarket and unpleasant, and it became a public nuisance. The Grosvenor family (who became Dukes of Westminster) acquired the land through marriage and began to develop it under the direction of Thomas Barlow. The work included Hanover Square, Berkeley Square and Grosvenor Square, which were surrounded by high-quality houses, and St George's Hanover Square Church. By the end of the 18th century, most of Mayfair was built on with upper-class housing; unlike some nearby areas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giustiniana Wynne
Giustiniana Wynne (later Countess Rosenberg-Orsini; Venice, 21 January 1737Padua, 22 August 1791) was an Anglo-Venetian author. She features in the memoirs of Casanova and had a long secret love affair with Andrea Memmo, one of the last statesmen of the Venetian Republic. Early life Giustiniana Wynne was born out of wedlock; this created difficulties for her later in life. Her parents were Greek-born Venetian Anna Gazini and Englishman Sir Richard Wynne. They married, and the other four siblings were born legitimate. The family was raised solely by their mother after Sir Richard's death. Giustiniana was said to be a great beauty. At the age of sixteen, she met Andrea Memmo, the 24-year-old son of one of Venice's ruling families. The two fell in love and began a clandestine affair which lasted nearly seven years. Due to the difference in their social classes, marriage did not appear to be possible. Also, upon the discovery of Memmo's attentions to her daughter, Anna forbade them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George William Coventry, 6th Earl Of Coventry
George William Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry (26 April 1722 – 3 September 1809), styled Viscount Deerhurst from 1744 to 1751, was a British peer and Tory politician. Early life Coventry was the second but eldest surviving son of William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry, and his wife Elizabeth (née Allen), and was educated at Winchester and University College, Oxford. Career He was elected to the House of Commons for Bridport in 1744 (succeeding his elder brother Viscount Deerhurst), a seat he held until 1747, and then represented Worcestershire from 1747 to 1751. The latter year he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. He also served as Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire from 1751 to 1808 and was a Lord of the Bedchamber to George II from 1752 to 1760 and to George III from 1760 to 1770. He inherited Croome Court, near Pershore, Worcestershire from his father and commissioned Capability Brown to redesign both the house and surrounding parkland. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Gunning
Maria Coventry, Countess of Coventry (''née'' Gunning; 1733 – 30 September 1760) was a famous Irish beauty and London society hostess during the reign of King George II. She died at a young age due to lead and mercury poisoning—the toxins were used in her beauty regimen. Biography Maria was born in Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire and was the eldest child of John Gunning of Castle Coote, County Roscommon and his wife Hon. Bridget Bourke, daughter of Theobald Bourke, 6th Viscount Mayo (1681–1741). Maria's younger siblings were Elizabeth, Catherine (married Robert Travis, died 1773), Sophia, Lizzie and John (a general in the army). In late 1740 or early 1741, the Gunning family returned to John Gunning's ancestral home in Ireland, where they divided their time between their home in Roscommon and a rented house in Dublin. According to some sources, when Maria and her sister Elizabeth came of age, their mother urged them to take up acting in order to earn a living, owin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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