Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff

Florence (Firenze)

Également connu sous : Florence (Firenze), Florence, Firenze

Place places/cities Comprehensive Mis à jour: 2026-05-25
Voir dans le journal 98 mentions

Research Status: Comprehensive Last Updated: 2026-05-25 Diary Coverage: Aspiration (1873), first visit (September 1875, carnet 043), Larderei obsession (1876-1877, carnets 068-073), second visit (May 1877, carnet 071), through-references (1878-1882, carnets 077-094) Wikipedia: Florence

Overview

Florence (Firenze), the capital of Tuscany, occupies a singular position in Marie Bashkirtseff's diary -- evolving from a teenage dream of artistic escape into the stage for one of her most intense emotional dramas. Marie first mentions Florence on April 30, 1873, when the fourteen-year-old lists it alongside Rome and Naples as the cities where she could "study painting, singing, music" -- everything impossible in Nice (004.0234). She visited twice: five days in September 1875 for the Michelangelo quatercentenary (carnet 043), and roughly ten days in May 1877 to stalk the family of her obsession, Alessandro de Larderei (carnet 071). Throughout the diary, Florence functions as both an art-historical reference point and the spiritual home of "ma famille" -- Marie's ironic term for the Larderei clan.

Historical Context (1860s-1870s)

Post-Capital Florence

Florence served as the capital of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy from 1865 to 1871, when the capital was transferred to Rome. This brief period of prominence brought a massive urban redevelopment known as the risanamento, masterminded by architect Giuseppe Poggi:

  • Demolition of the medieval walls (1865-1869) and creation of the viali (ring boulevards) -- the very boulevards Marie admires: "Les viali Galileo, Machiavelli et Michel Angelo sont admirables" (043.0119)
  • Construction of Piazzale Michelangelo (1869), the panoramic terrace above the Arno where Marie attended the centenary illuminations (043.0183)
  • Demolition of the old market and ghetto to create the modern city center
  • Economic crisis after the capital's departure: some 30,000 bureaucrats, courtiers, and merchants left, and the municipality nearly went bankrupt

By the time Marie arrived in 1875, Florence was still recovering economically but remained the preeminent city in Europe for the study of art and art history.

The Foreign Colonies

Florence hosted large and well-established foreign communities that made the city a cosmopolitan center despite its provincial size:

  • The Russian colony: Established from the 1810s, anchored by the Demidov family (Marie drives past Villa Demidoff in 043.0126). Count Nikolai Demidov, Russian ambassador to Tuscany (1815-1828), built Villa di San Donato and endowed schools, hospitals, and charities. By the 1870s, Russian aristocratic families formed a permanent colony; Count Kiseleff served as Russian minister at Florence (mentioned in 055.0648). The Russian Orthodox Church on Lungarno Serristori, completed in 1903, formalized this community's presence.
  • The Anglo-American colony: The largest foreign community, attracted by Florence's relative cheapness, cultural richness, and mild climate. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (buried in the English cemetery at Piazzale Donatello) called it "cheap, tranquil, cheerful and beautiful." British and American residents maintained their own churches, libraries, and social institutions.
  • The aristocratic circuit: Italian and foreign aristocrats intersected at fashionable venues -- the Cascine promenade, the Teatro della Pergola, the skating rink, horse races, and private salons. The Larderei family, resident at the Palazzo de Larderel on Via Tornabuoni, exemplified this world.

The Art Capital

Despite losing its political role, Florence remained Europe's unrivaled city for studying art history:

  • Galleria degli Uffizi: One of the world's oldest and most important art museums, housing works by Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio. Marie visits on September 15, 1875 (043.0197-0220) and delivers characteristically bold verdicts.
  • Palazzo Pitti: The former grand-ducal palace with the Palatine Gallery. Marie marvels at its massive stonework: "J'ouvris des grands yeux en voyant les pierres immenses du palazzo Pitti!" (043.0118)
  • Galleria dell'Accademia: Home to Michelangelo's David. Marie visits "alla galleria delle belli arti" (043.0160, with her characteristic Italian spelling error).
  • Opificio delle Pietre Dure: The Museum of Hard Stones, specializing in pietra dura mosaic work (043.0158)
  • Churches: Santa Croce with its tombs of illustrious men, San Lorenzo with Michelangelo's Medici Chapels, the Duomo, and the Baptistery with Ghiberti's doors (which Marie mistakenly attributes to Benvenuto Cellini, 043.0188)
  • Working artists: Michele Gordigiani (1835-1909), the celebrated Florentine portrait painter who had painted Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and King Vittorio Emanuele II, maintained his studio in Florence and encouraged Marie's art during her 1877 visit (071.0065).

Key Venues and Promenades

  • Le Cascine (les Cascines in Marie's French, or les Cachines in her playful variant): Florence's great public park along the Arno, transformed from a Medici hunting estate into a fashionable promenade under Elisa Baciocchi, Napoleon's sister. Stendhal called it "la promenade ou tout le monde va se montrer." Marie frequents it obsessively during both visits -- comparing it to the Bois de Boulogne, noting it is "un paradis" (071.0018), observing the Larderei equipages, and being followed by admirers.
  • Teatro della Pergola: Florence's principal theater, built in 1656, the oldest surviving theater with tiered boxes in Italy. Its closure during the 1877-1878 mourning period for King Vittorio Emanuele II frustrates Marie's social ambitions: "C'est cette maudite Pergola qui est fermee" (071.0043). Marie spells it "la Pergola" and treats it as a social venue as much as a theatrical one.
  • Teatro Pagliano (later Teatro Verdi): The more popular theater where Marie attends an opera performance of Auber's L'Enfant prodigue (043.0218) and, in 1877, a performance of Wagner's Rienzi.
  • The Skating rink: A fashionable social venue electrically lit -- advanced technology for 1877. Marie notes it alongside the Pergola as the places to be seen.
  • Piazzale Michelangelo: The panoramic terrace above the city, where Marie attends the 1875 centenary illuminations amid enormous crowds (043.0183).

Marie's Visits to Florence

First Visit: September 1875 (Carnet 043)

Marie travels from Nice via Genoa with her aunt, arriving September 12. She stays at the Hotel New York for the Michelangelo quatercentenary celebrations (the 400th anniversary of his birth in 1475). Five days of intensive art tourism and cultural observation:

Key entries and paragraph IDs:

| Date | Para IDs | Content | |------|----------|---------| | Sep 11 | 043.0077-0088 | Departure from Nice via Genoa; falls in love with Italy: "je suis amoureuse de l'Italie" | | Sep 12 | 043.0089-0111 | Arrives Florence; Hotel New York; rages at Victor Emmanuel for not making the centenary grander | | Sep 13 | 043.0112-0143 | Drives through the city in a landau; overwhelmed by architecture: "Soyez honteux, architectes francais, russes, anglais"; Le Cascine; Villa Demidoff; Santa Croce | | Sep 14 | 043.0144-0195 | Palazzo Panciatichi, Michelangelo's house, Pitti Palace; critiques Raphael's Madonna della Sedia; praises Titian; final night of centenario illuminations at Piazzale Michelangelo; Baptistery doors (misattributed to Cellini) | | Sep 15 | 043.0196-0220 | Uffizi Gallery: disappointed by Venus de' Medici, praises Raphael's Fornarina and Gherardo delle Notti's nativity; Egyptian and Etruscan museums; Le Cascine; Teatro Pagliano opera | | Sep 16 | 043.0221-0227 | Departs Florence quoting Dante; returns via Genoa |

Marie's artistic judgments are characteristically independent:

  • Venus de' Medici: "Cette petite poupee est une deception nouvelle" -- the Venus de Milo is "beaucoup plus Venus" (043.0200-0201)
  • Raphael's Madonnas: Dismisses them as "image plate et effacee" but praises La Fornarina as "une tete vivante, belle, fraiche" (043.0202)
  • *Raphael's Madonna della Sedia: The face is that of a "femme de chambre" (043.0169)
  • Gherardo delle Notti (van Honthorst): The nativity scene is "magnifique" -- she responds to light effects and naturalism (043.0204)
  • Florentine architecture: Superior to everything: "Pas le Louvre, le Louvre est incritiquable, mais tout le reste" (043.0118)

Second Visit: May 1877 (Carnet 071)

Marie arrives from Naples around May 2, staying roughly ten days. This visit is entirely dominated by the Larderei obsession. The ostensible reasons (art, society) are secondary to stalking Alexandre's family.

Key entries and paragraph IDs:

| Date | Para IDs | Content | |------|----------|---------| | May 2 | 071.0016-0030 | Arrives; encounters Larderei's mother at the Cascine; investigates family pedigree (Mirafiori, Salviati connections); Skating rink | | May 4 | 071.0031-0042 | Stalks la Righi (Larderei's mistress) and baby Alexandrine; Pergola closed for season; frustrated at lack of social venues to "se montrer" | | May 6 | 071.0043-0052 | Reveals real purpose: planned to kidnap Alexandrine, Larderei's illegitimate daughter; plan abandoned; Gordigiani visits and encourages her art; three men follow her at Cascine | | May 11 | 071.0053-0065 | Last day; stays up all night; farewell to Cascine; final sighting of Larderei family; Gordigiani validates her art; Cercle philharmonique concert; cries on the departing train | | May 13 | 071.0066-0101 | Returns to Nice; at Cascine before departure, confronts la Righi face to face; Marcuard delivers coded marriage proposal for Larderei at the train station |

Florence as Larderei territory: During this visit, Florence is less an art capital than the Larderei family's domain. Marie drives past the Palazzo Larderei on Via Tornabuoni, observes la Righi at the Cascine, tracks the family's equipages (green livery, eight springs), and uses the skating rink and Cercle philharmonique as social stages. The Pergola's closure for mourning deprives her of the main venue to be seen: "j'aurais tant donne pour avoir un succes quelconque aux yeux de Larderei" (071.0043).

Gordigiani's encouragement (071.0065) is one of the few genuine artistic moments: the celebrated painter, who had painted Queen Victoria, examines Marie's sketches and "m'a encouragee, m'a promis un avenir artistique, a trouve beaucoup de bon dans mes esquisses." This validation from a recognized professional strengthens her resolve.

The 1878 "Visit" That Was Not

Marcuard writes to Marie from Florence (letter dated January 24, 1878, transcribed in 078.0197-0201), describing the city in mourning for King Vittorio Emanuele II (d. January 9, 1878): "tout est en deuil, a Florence, les dames portent robes noires pendant 40 jours" (077.0233). The Pergola is closed, the skating rink deserted. Gordigiani is painting portraits of Russian and American ladies. Marie herself is in Paris and does not visit Florence in 1878, though she contemplates going: "les Cachines" appear in her plans with Yorke and Berthe (078.0301).

Florence in Marie's Imagination (1873-1882)

The Dream of Escape (1873)

Florence first appears as pure aspiration. The fourteen-year-old Marie writes: "Je voudrais aller a Florence, a Naples, a Rome, etudier la peinture, le chant, la musique, a Nice c'est impossible" (004.0234). She repeats this in English to Helene Howard: "I wish to go to Florence... where I can study singing, piano, painting. But in Nice it is almost impossible, for want of galleries, museums, conservatoires" (004.0284). Florence represents cultural escape from provincial Nice.

Florence as Reference Point (1876-1879)

After visiting, Florence becomes a standard of comparison:

  • Arriving in Paris (July 1876): "J'ai vu Vienne, Londres, Rome, Florence... et je n'ai jamais rien vu de semblable... a la place de la Concorde" (063.0053) -- even Florence cannot match Paris
  • Comparing Naples to Paris (1877): "s'il faut absolument tout comparer a Paris, je lui comparerai Florence riche, elegante, belle" -- Florence is the closest Italian equivalent to Parisian elegance
  • Considering a move (March 1879): "Si j'allais a Florence? Ce ne serait pas tant pour me marier que pour voir du monde, j'ai idee que nous serions bien a Florence" (084.0309)

"Ma famille de Florence" (1877-1882)

Marie's ironic appropriation of the Larderei family as "ma famille" persists long after the obsession's peak. As late as April 1882, when her father reports meeting Larderei at Monaco -- now fallen, "tare," consorting with prostitutes -- Marie writes: "j'ai garde un faible pour ma famille de Florence" (094.0250). The phrase combines residual tenderness, social aspiration, and self-aware irony.

People Associated with Florence in the Diary

  • Alessandro de Larderei: Marie's great obsession; Florentine count, resident at Palazzo de Larderel on Via Tornabuoni
  • Michele Gordigiani (1835-1909): Florentine portrait painter; painted Queen Victoria, Prince of Wales, Vittorio Emanuele II; encouraged Marie's art (071.0065, 072, 075, 078)
  • Marcuard: Swiss friend resident in Florence; his letters provide social intelligence about Florentine society
  • Mlle Tanska: Young Polish sculptor (age 16) mentioned in Marcuard's Florence letter (078.0199)
  • Prince Strozzi, Mme Needham: Florentine society figures mentioned in Marcuard's correspondence

Key Sites Marie Visited or Referenced

Museums and Galleries

Churches and Architecture

  • Santa Croce: "Ce qui est curieux c'est l'eglise de Santa Croce avec ses tombeaux de tant d'hommes illustres" -- Dante study deepens her appreciation (1877 visit, raw carnet 10)
  • Baptistery of San Giovanni: Marie admires the doors but attributes them to Cellini rather than Ghiberti -- a characteristic error (043.0188)
  • Palazzo Panciatichi: Visited September 14 (043.0144ff)

Promenades and Social Venues

  • Le Cascine: Marie's primary social stage in Florence (043.0123, 071.0018, 071.0046, 071.0060, 071.0066)
  • Piazzale Michelangelo: Centenary illuminations (043.0183)
  • Teatro della Pergola: The social theater (071.0040, 077.0233, 078.0199)
  • Teatro Pagliano (now Teatro Verdi)): Opera performances (043.0218)
  • Skating rink: Electrically lit social venue (071.0028)
  • Cercle philharmonique: Charity concert venue (071.0062)
  • Villa Demidoff: Russian estate Marie drives past (043.0126)

Significance in Marie's Development

Florence represents several overlapping meanings across the diary's twelve years:

1. Artistic aspiration (1873): The city where real artistic education is possible, unlike provincial Nice 2. Artistic awakening (1875): Direct encounter with masterworks that strengthens her resolve and sharpens her critical faculty -- she refuses to defer to established reputations 3. Romantic obsession (1877): Florence becomes Larderei territory, the city of "ma famille," where art is secondary to social maneuvering 4. Professional validation (1877): Gordigiani's encouragement is one of the first from a recognized artist 5. Social benchmark (1876-1882): Florence as the standard of Italian elegance, the closest Italian equivalent to Paris 6. Nostalgic reference (1879-1882): "Ma famille de Florence" -- a lingering tenderness even after the Larderei obsession fades

Note: "Florence" as Personal Name

Several diary references to "Florence" refer to people, not the city:

  • Florence Foster: Acquaintance from Ostende (carnet 024)
  • Florence Lacon: Friend who introduces Marie to M. de Lesseps (carnets 082, 085); "Florence s'ennuyait et voulait partir" (085.0429) refers to this person
  • Florence Graham: Fellow art student at the atelier (carnet 087)

Related Entries

  • #Rome -- Another major Italian destination
  • #Naples -- Southern Italian stop; base for Larderei pursuit
  • #Venice -- Northern Italian city also visited
  • #Nice -- Marie's home base, the "provincial" city Florence represents escape from
  • #Paris -- Where Marie pursues her artistic training; surpasses even Florence
  • #Larderei -- The Florentine obsession
  • #Salon -- The exhibition where Marie would later display her own work