Bianca Milesi Mojon (May 22, 1790 – June 8, 1849) was an Italian patriot, writer and painter. She also trained girls to become interested in the arts.

Biography

Bianca Milesi was born into a family of wealthy merchants in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, daughter of Giovan Battista Milesi and Elena Viscontini. She had four sisters, Antoinette, Francesca, Agostina, Louise, and a brother, Charles, who would join in marriage with his cousin Elena Viscontini, sister of Matilda. She was brought up from six to ten years in a convent in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, in Milan in the monasteries of St. Sophia and the Holy Spirit, and finally with a governess. A journey made together with her mother in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

and Switzerland gave her the opportunity to broaden her horizons and study the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Even after returning to Milan, she continued to travel, periodically visiting Florence and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In Florence he met the Countess of Albany

Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern Princess Louise Maximiliane Caroline Emanuel of Stolberg-Gedern (20 September 1752 – 29 January 1824) was the wife of Charles Edward Stuart, the Jacobite claimant to the English and Scottish thrones. The unhappy marriage led her to request fro ...

, who had been the mistress of

Vittorio Alfieri Count Vittorio Alfieri (, also , ; 16 January 17498 October 1803) was an Italian dramatist and poet, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy." He wrote nineteen tragedies, sonnets, satires, and a notable autobiography. Early life Alfieri was ...

. In Rome she came into relationship with Antonio Canova and the German painter Sophie Reinhard. Bianca Milesi Gaspare Raimondi

She had a leading role in the

Carbonari The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...

uprisings in Milan in 1821. She later went on to become a drawer and painter, and taught at schools, particularly training girls to become interested in the arts. She died in Paris on June 8, 1849.

Sources

* Souvestre Émile Blanche Milesi-Mojon. Biographical Angers, Cosnier and Lachèse 1854 * Carlo Cattaneo, Bianca Milesi Mojon, in published and unpublished works: literary works, Florence, Le Monnier, 1925, p. 474-492 * Maria Teresa Mori, Salotti. 2003. ''The Sociability of the Elite in Italy in the Nineteenth Century''. Rome, Carocci * Arianna Arisi Rota, Milesi, Bianca, in ''Biographical Dictionary of Italian'', vol. 74, Rome, Italian Encyclopedia Institute, 2010 * Boneschi, Marta. 2010. ''La donna segreta: storia di Metilde Viscontini Dembowski''. Venezia: Marsilio. {{DEFAULTSORT:Milesi, Bianca 1790 births 1849 deaths Painters from Milan 18th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian painters Italian women writers Italian writers 19th-century Italian women artists 19th-century Italian women writers Writers from Milan