Baron Visconti

Research Status: Moderate Diary Coverage: 1875-12-29 to 1877-08-19 (Rome, 1876-77)

Identity

The old Roman baron Visconti, «ancien directeur de l'Empirisme» as the printed text has it (051.0104), a «vieux beau» (053.0472), «personnage remarquable, savant et célèbre et tout-puissant au temps du pape» (060.0455), a spirited man of the world who, as Marie puts it, «bien que très vieux est un homme du monde avec un esprit très souple encore» (053.0472) and «tout le monde connaît». Mon Journal indexes: «Visconti (baron)» in t.6 (p. 276), t.8, t.9 and t.10 (p. 310). Marie arrives in Rome with a letter of introduction to him from Mme de Mouzay (051.0104; 053.0461). The diary gives no first name; an identification with a known Roman Visconti has not been made here.

He is the family's guide and go-between in Rome: he advises Marie and her mother which salons to join (the «salons blancs» of the Court rather than the «salons noirs» of the Pope's party, 053.0472), obtains the Pope's signed portrait («Pax vobis») for Marie (055.1203; 062.0749), and, as an old friend of the Antonelli circle, is the man who relays what the Antonelli family and the Pope think of a marriage to Pietro Antonelli.

Identity uncertain

We are not sure who this baron Visconti is. The diary calls him «le baron Visconti ancien directeur de l'Empirisme» (051.0104, so printed in Mon Journal t.6 p.277; the scan reads the same, so the odd word is not an OCR error of ours, but it is probably a misreading of Marie's hand), «très vieux» (053.0472), «savant et célèbre et tout-puissant au temps du pape» (060.0455), a friend of the Antonelli family who can obtain a signed portrait of Pius IX (055.1203). Marie also plays on his name: «Visconto Visconti» (055.0999; t.7 index «Visconti (baron) [Visconto]»). No first name is given anywhere, and the indexes say only «Visconti (baron)» (t.6-t.10).

The best candidate is the archaeologist Pietro Ercole Visconti (1802-1880) of Rome, Commissario delle Antichità of the Papal State from 1836 until 1870 and president of the Capitoline Museum (ostia-antica.org, «Pietro Ercole Visconti»): he was in his seventies in 1876, learned and famous, and powerful «au temps du pape», which fits Marie's words; «directeur de l'Empirisme» could be a garbled title of a papal antiquities or museums office. Against it: no source seen gives him the title of baron (he is «cavaliere» or «commendatore»). His nephew Carlo Ludovico Visconti (1818-1894) was too young to be «très vieux». Sources checked: the diary paragraphs, the Mon Journal indexes t.6-t.10 and the scan of t.6 p.277, ostia-antica.org, Wikipedia. If you can identify him, we would be glad to hear from you.

Diary References

• 1875-12-29 (051.0104): one of the letters of introduction her mother's friend writes for Rome.
• 1876-02-09 (053.0461-0472): first visit; «tout à fait charmant et très vieux».
• 1876-02-12 to 02-23 (054): fixes presentations to M. Leghait and an invitation to the German embassy ball (054.0005-0021); calls often (054.0135, 0208, 0304); «se montre de plus en plus homme de cour» (054.0384).
• 1876-03-06 to 03-14 (055): calls; her "rêve papal" told to him (055.0164).
• 1876-03-21 (055.0999) and 03-30 (056.0141-0182): the decisive talk: «Où désirez-vous marier votre fille» (the Pope would consent to a marriage only if the children are Catholic), after praising Pietro Antonelli's person and fortune.
• 1876-03-26 (055.1203): brings the Pope's portrait with «Pax vobis»; he obtained it by saying it was «une jeune fille russe qui épouse un catholique».
• 1876-04-10 (057.0078-0133): Marie dreams of him in an apoplectic fit; he turns out to have been ill the day before.
• 1876-04-25 (059.0316-0361): «le petit Antonelli… n'est pas un parti à dédaigner mais bien à prendre des deux mains.»
• 1876-05-18/19 (060.0454-0749): Marie and Antonelli agree to entrust him with the go-between's role («le Mercurio»).
• 1876-08-21 (065.0262): mentioned among Roman acquaintances she boasts of.
• 1876-12-26 to 1877-01-01 (068.0300-0364): calls in Rome again; on 1877-01-01 he reports on the cardinal's «fille» lawsuit against the Antonelli and the family's conduct.
• 1877-08-19 (073.0533): «d'après ce qu'on sait par Visconti», about the Antonelli household.

Not this Visconti

The earlier text of this entry described a Nice business, "Visconti's establishment" where carnival tickets were bought (002/1873-02-19). That is the Nice bookshop and reading room, now #Visconti_Librairie; twelve tagged paragraphs (002, 009, 010, 014, 016, 024, 048, 062) belong to it and are listed for retagging.