Francesca Lechi
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Francesca Lechi | |
|---|---|
_MET_ep26.168.33.R.jpg) Portrait of Lechi by Giovanni Battista Gigola. held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
| Born | 1773 |
| Died | 1806 (aged 33) |
| Occupation(s) | Italian revolutionary and figure in Milanese society |
| Spouse | Francesco Ghirardi (m. 1793) |
| Children | 1 |
Francesca Ghirardi Lechi (1773–1806) was an Italian revolutionary and figure in Milanese society. She was nicknamed "Fanni."
Family
[edit]Lechi was born in Brescia, Lombardy and was a member of the noble Lechi family. She was the daughter of Count Faustino Lechi of Brescia and Countess Doralice Bielli and had five brothers: General Giuseppe Lechi (1766–1836), Angelo Lechi (1769–1850), Bernardino Lechi (1775–1869), General Teodoro Lechi (1778–1866) and Luigi Lechi (1786–1867).[1]
Lechi ran away from home to marry Francesco Ghirardi, a lawyer from the Republic of Venice, on 21 August 1793.[1] He was a family friend and twenty years her senior.[2] They had a daughter named Carolina.[3]
Life
[edit]Lechi was educated at the College of Salò, then at the College of Castiglione.[1]
Lechi took part in revolutionary activity in Brescia.[1] On 16 March 1797, she purchased silks in white, red and green from three different shops in order to avoid suspicion, to use as material for a tricolour flag.[4] The flag was to be hoisted in Broletto by her brother Giuseppe during the Brescian revolution,[2] activity which lead to the creation of the Republic of Brescia, a temporary French client republic, on 18 March 1797.[5] This symbol of Italian unification later became the tricolour flag or Italy.
Lechi moved with her husband to Milan, where she became a society figure and loved to dress as an Amazon warrior or her literary heroes at balls.[2]
Lechi met Joachim Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte's right-hand man and the first King of Naples of the House of Murat, at a ball in Milan.[2] She became his mistress,[1][6] and followed him to Paris before returning to her husband.[2]
In 1801, she met the realist writer Stendhal in Milan. Stendhal described her in his book Vie de Napoléon as:[1][7]
French: "La comtesse Gherardi, fille du comte Lecchi, avait peut-être les plus beaux yeux de Brescia, le pays de beaux yeux"
Translation: "La Comtesse Gherardi, daughter of Comte Lecchi, has the most beautiful eyes of Brescia, the place of beautiful eyes"
Lechi died in 1806.[1] The date and place of her burial are unknown.[2]
Representations
[edit]A miniature portrait of Lechi on ivory, by Giovanni Battista Gigola [it], which shows her her bare-breasted in a provocative pose, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[3]
An oil painting of Lechi with her daughter Carolina was painted circa 1800-1801.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Fappani, Antonio (1987). "LECHI Ghirardi Francesca". Enciclopedia Bresciana Volume 7 (in Italian). Archived from the original on 14 June 2025. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f Tiraboschi, Marco (20 March 2022). "Francesca Lechi, il sorriso seducente di Brescia". Bresciaoggi.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ a b "Francesca Ghirardi Lechi (1773–1806)". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 21 February 2025. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ Murat, Joachim (25 January 2020). "Fanny, l'amore proibito e quella finta redenzione". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 25 June 2025 – via PressReader.com.
- ^ Da Como, Ugo (1926). La Repubblica Bresciana (in Italian). Bologna: Zanichelli.
- ^ Rome, Naples and Florence. Alma Books. 2018. p. 537. ISBN 978-0-7145-4565-3.
- ^ "La bella Fannj". Brescia City (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
- ^ Wilhelm Bode and the Art Market: Connoisseurship, Networking and Control of the Marketplace. BRILL. 5 December 2022. p. 187. ISBN 978-90-04-53245-8.
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