In
our modern world, smartphones allow anyone to be obsessed with their
own photographs, and the internet allows those folks to broadcast their
obsession to the world. But even in the days when photography was new,
expensive, and relatively difficult, Virginia Oldoini, Countess of
Castiglione, harnessed her wealth to record herself in over 400
portraits. She wasn't a photographer, but an artist, with herself as the
medium.
She wasn’t the most likeable character of her
time. Once rumoured to be the most beautiful woman in 19th century
Europe, a queen of both style and drama; model, mistress, self-appointed
muse, narcissist; if there’s one thing to know about the Italian
Countess de Castiglione– it’s that she was seriously vain. Shipped off
to Paris in 1856 to compete for the affection of the reigning King
Napoleon III, she wasted no time weaving herself into a highly
scandalous affair with the crown, all the while cultivating her own
celebrity through hundreds of elaborate, self-directed photo shoots. At a
time when photography was still in its infancy, the Countess had a body
of work that could be compared to Kim Kardashian’s selfie collection.
It was her vanity and obsession with her own beauty that came to define
her entire lifestyle, around which her status, identity, and ultimately
her demise, revolved. A cautionary tale of a woman who thought her
beauty would last forever…
The Countess was used and
abused by the European nobility for their own ends in her younger life,
which reads like gossip column fodder. But she is most remembered for
her legendary vanity and her portrait obsession.
Read about the Countess of Castiglione and see more images at Messy Messy Chic.
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