The most beautiful legs of the 19th century: How the Countess di Castiglione photographed what all the ladies were hiding

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

We know that the morals of a decent society 200 years ago were extremely strict, but there was one woman among society ladies who seemed to deliberately violate all conceivable prohibitions, but at the same time remained always on the crest of success. The only obstacle she really feared was old age.

Reference books call this woman a courtesan, but, apparently, the young Florentine Virginia Aldoini came from a noble family, since at the age of 16 she married Count Francesco de Castiglione. However, having given birth to an heir to her husband, she decided that she had exceeded her marital duties with a vengeance and went into secular entertainment.

Rumor attributed several lovers to the young countess, but for some reason her husband tolerated it. The secret was simple: Virginia did not waste her time on trifles, and became the favorite of Napoleon III himself. This relationship lasted only a couple of years, but after that the doors of all European living rooms were opened in front of the beauty - what could forever ruin a woman's reputation in those strict times, for this beauty only added piquancy. She always, until the last days, knew how to create a halo of light scandalousness around herself, which, it seems, only added to her charm.

By the way, the Countess de Castiglione was the very woman who ruled European politics from bed: for example, it is known that, on the instructions of her cousin, Count Cavour, she convinced Napoleon not to interfere with the unification of Italy. And then, during the Franco-Prussian war, she dissuaded Bismarck, who was carried away by her, from the occupation of Paris. It is these winding paths that sometimes decide the fate of nations.

Contemporaries described the Countess as an amazing beauty. Princess Pauline von Metternich wrote about her this way: Connoisseurs of the 21st century do not always find that unearthly splendor in this woman, but this is probably because our generation is too spoiled by ideal beauties from the world of cinema.

For her age, the Countess de Castiglione became the ideal of female beauty and at the same time with this "title" she acquired one passion, which, as they say, ruined her husband. Usually women of that era collected jewelry, but the slightly eccentric Virginia became a slave to her own beauty - she was carried away by photography.

I think that modern beauties will understand her, especially since it was she who invented many of the techniques that are popular with Instagram stars today. A photo from the back, a face reflected in a mirror, staged photographs "in character", the exploitation of the innocent charm of one's own children - all this was once tested for the first time by the Countess de Castiglione. Her passion for beauty was shared by the imperial court photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson, and despite the fact that the cost of one picture in those days could be compared with the price of a real portrait, more than 400 photographs of the beautiful countess have come down to us!

It is believed that it was Pierson who persuaded the photogenic aristocrat to take an extremely bold step. Today, movie stars can scandalize the public by starring in 21+ films or in some candid scenes, but what Virginia de Castiglione has done in front of the camera cannot even be compared in terms of courage. She allowed her naked knees to be photographed!

In the middle of the 19th century, the female body was quite clearly divided into “visible” and “forbidden” zones. If the arms, neck and chest could be exposed almost to the point of indecency (from a modern point of view), the waist should have been tight, showing its silhouette, then the strictest taboo was imposed on the legs. A decent woman could only "light up" the toe of a shoe. To avoid accidentally exposing the ankle while riding or in the wind, it was necessary to wear high lace-up boots outdoors.

Garters, on the other hand, were the most erotic part of a woman's wardrobe, and no other accessory was fanned by so many traditions, legends and anecdotes like this one. Although stockings were fastened in those days not very high - under the knee or just above it. It was “along this line” that undoubtedly passed the “watershed” between a decent woman and a lady of the half-light. Yes, in Paris, since 1820, dancers have danced the cancan, lifting their skirts just above the knee, but this was undoubtedly the most vulgar dance in the world and was performed only in the darkest places of the French capital. However, times have changed. Already in 1889, in the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret in Montmartre, the cancan and dancers' ankles were admired not only by bohemians and aristocrats, but also by members of royal families, for example, the Prince of Wales and his retinue. It is possible that in this change of trends was the merit of the Countess de Castiglione.

The noble lady boldly allowed the photographer to capture her, first simply without shoes and stockings, and then with bare knees. Moreover, she did not hide these candid photos from people at all, but even sent them to all her acquaintances, and especially to those men whom she planned to add to the list of her victories. Perhaps, society would not forgive any other lady for such tricks, but for some reason this woman has always been an exception to the rule. The feet of the Countess di Castiglioni were called “the most beautiful feet of the century”, amateurs collected collections of her photographs, buying them out or exchanging them from each other, and the mistress of these very feet became more and more popular.

However, the age of beauties is not long. The beautiful countess, noticing the signs of approaching old age, showed weakness for the first time in her life. According to the surviving memoirs of contemporaries, she stopped leaving her palace, curtained all the mirrors and darkened the windows so that the sunlight would not emphasize what she was trying not to notice. However, her favorite hobby helped her here too: the woman learned to retouch photographs herself, and she did it in the last years of her life very skillfully, so that in the yellowed photographs stored today in museums around the world, we see her still beautiful. And female legs, as she found out in practice, generally hold up a good defense against the coming old age, therefore, even in later photographs, she still willingly exhibited this part of her body.

Today it has become fashionable to add color to old photographs, because Painted old photographs perfectly convey the atmosphere of the era