The Lovers’ Chronicle 26 April – wanted – birth of Lady Hamilton – art by Eugène Delacroix & Edmund Tarbell

26 April 2024 By Rhett 0 In Random

Dear Zazie Lee,

Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag.

Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

before, when knowin’
what was wanted
was thought
to be certain

a life spent knowin’
exactly what they wanted
without realizin’ that want
is about givin’
and not takin’

then you
then want became you

Pale Love, Pale Rider

before, when knowin’
what was wanted
was certain

a life spent knowin’
exactly what they wanted
without realizin’ that want
is about givin’
and not takin’

then you
then want became you

but since you

no longer wantin’
nor wanted

but since you

no longer wantin’
nor wanted

and all that is left
plays out in dreams
all that is left of you,
is in the wantin’

and the waitin’
till want goes away

Before, when he thought he knew
just what he wanted

He had spent his entire life
thinkin’ he knew exactly
what they wanted for themselves
Not realizin’ that what
he wanted for them
was what he wanted

Then she walked into his life
and changed everything
And then she was gone
And everything changed

He became weathered and worn,
wistful and wantin’,
no longer wanted
He wanted no one
for she was the only one
he ever wanted

Now he knows, but now too late
And nothin’ has changed
All that he has left to him
of what he wanted,
plays out in his dreams
All that he has left of her,
of what she wanted,
is in the wantin’

And he waits
Till he wants no more

A life spent thinkin’
he knew exactly
what they wanted
for themselves
Not realizin’ that what
he wanted for them
was what he wanted

Not realizin’ that what
he wanted for them
was what he wanted

George Romney ‘Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante’ 1785

Today is the birthday of Emma Hamilton, Lady Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; Neston, Cheshire, England 26 April 1765 – 15 January 1815 Calais, France); maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London’s demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men, culminating in the naval hero Lord Nelson, and was the favourite model of the portrait artist George Romney.

In 1791, at the age of 26, she married Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples, where she was a success at court, befriending the queen, the sister of Marie Antoinette, and meeting Nelson.

At 15, Emma met Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, who hired her for several months as hostess and entertainer at a lengthy stag party at Fetherstonhaugh’s Uppark country estate in the South Downs. She is said to have danced nude on his dining room table. Fetherstonhaugh took Emma there as a mistress, but frequently ignored her in favour of drinking and hunting with his friends. Emma soon befriended the dull but sincere Honourable Charles Francis Greville (1749–1809). It was about this time (late June-early July 1781) that she conceived a child by Fetherstonhaugh. Greville took her in as his mistress, on condition that the child was fostered out.

Seeing an opportunity to make some money by taking a cut of sales, Greville sent her to sit for his friend, the painter George Romney, who was looking for a new model and muse. It was then that Emma became the subject of many of Romney’s most famous portraits, and soon became London’s biggest celebrity. So began Romney’s lifelong obsession with her, sketching her nude and clothed in many poses that he later used to create paintings in her absence. Through the popularity of Romney’s work and particularly of his striking-looking young model, Emma became well known in society circles, under the name of “Emma Hart”. She was witty, intelligent, a quick learner, elegant and, as paintings of her attest, extremely beautiful. Romney was fascinated by her looks and ability to adapt to the ideals of the age. Romney and other artists painted her in many guises, foreshadowing her later “attitudes”.

In 1783, Greville needed to find a rich wife to replenish his finances, and found a fit in the form of eighteen-year-old heiress Henrietta Middleton. Emma would be a problem, as he disliked being known as her lover (this having become apparent to all through her fame in Romney’s artworks), and his prospective wife would not accept him as a suitor if he lived openly with Emma Hart. To be rid of Emma, Greville persuaded his uncle, younger brother of his mother, Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples, to take her off his hands.

Greville’s marriage would prove useful to Sir William, as it relieved him of having Greville as a poor relation. To promote his plan, Greville suggested to Sir William that Emma would make a very pleasing mistress, assuring him that, once married to Henrietta Middleton, he would come and fetch Emma back. Sir William, then 55 and newly widowed, had arrived back in London for the first time in over five years. Emma’s famous beauty was by then well known to Sir William, so much so that he even agreed to pay the expenses for her journey to ensure her speedy arrival. He had long been happily married until the death of his wife in 1782, and he liked female companionship. His home in Naples was well known all over the world for hospitality and refinement. He needed a hostess for his salon, and from what he knew about Emma, he thought she would be the perfect choice.

Greville did not inform Emma of his plan, but instead in 1785 suggested the trip as a prolonged holiday in Naples while he (Greville) was away in Scotland on business, not long after Emma’s mother had suffered a stroke. Emma was thus sent to Naples, supposedly for six to eight months, little realising that she was going as the mistress of her host. Emma set off for Naples with her mother and Gavin Hamilton on 13 March 1786 overland in an old coach, and arrived in Naples on her 21st birthday on 26 April.

After about six months of living in apartments in the Palazzo Sessa with her mother (separately from Sir William) and begging Greville to come and fetch her, Emma came to understand that he had cast her off. She was furious when she realised what Greville had planned for her, but eventually started to enjoy life in Naples and responded to Sir William’s intense courtship just before Christmas in 1786. They fell in love, Sir William forgot about his plan to take her on as a temporary mistress, and Emma moved into his apartments, leaving her mother downstairs in the ground floor rooms.

They were married on 6 September 1791 at St Marylebone Parish Church, then a plain small building, having returned to England for the purpose and Sir William having gained the King’s consent. She was twenty-six and he was sixty. Although she was obliged to use her legal name of Amy Lyon on the marriage register, the wedding gave her the title Lady Hamilton which she would use for the rest of her life. Hamilton’s public career was now at its height and during their visit he was inducted into the Privy Council. Shortly after the ceremony, Romney painted his last portrait of Emma from life, The Ambassadress, after which he plunged into a deep depression and drew a series of frenzied sketches of Emma. The newly married couple returned to Naples after two days.

Sharing Sir William Hamilton’s enthusiasm for classical antiquities and art, she developed what she called her “Attitudes”—tableaux vivants in which she portrayed sculptures and paintings before British visitors. Emma developed the attitudes, also known as mimoplastic art, by using Romney’s idea of combining classical poses with modern allure as the basis for her act.

With the aid of her shawls, Emma posed as various classical figures from Medea to Queen Cleopatra, and her performances charmed aristocrats, artists such as Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun, writers—including the great Johann Wolfgang von Goethe—and kings and queens alike, setting off new dance trends across Europe and starting a fashion for a draped Grecian style of dress.

As wife of the British Envoy, Emma welcomed Nelson (who had been married to Fanny Nisbet for about six years at that point) after his arrival in Naples on 10 September 1793, when he came to gather reinforcements against the French. When he set sail for Sardinia on 15 September after only five days in Naples, it was clear that he was smitten with Emma.

Nelson returned to Naples five years later, on 22 September 1798 a living legend, after his victory at the Battle of the Nile in Aboukir, with his step-son Josiah Nisbet, then 18 years old. By this time, Nelson’s adventures had prematurely aged him; he had lost an arm and most of his teeth, and was afflicted by coughing spells. Emma and Sir William escorted Nelson to their home, the Palazzo Sessa.

Emma nursed Nelson and arranged a party with 1,800 guests to celebrate his 40th birthday on 29 September. After the party, Emma became Nelson’s secretary, translator and political facilitator. They soon fell in love and began an affair. Hamilton showed admiration and respect for Nelson, and vice versa; the affair was tolerated. By November, gossip from Naples about their affair reached the English newspapers. Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson were famous.

Eugène Delacroix est un peintre français né le 26 avril 1798 à Charenton-Saint-Maurice et mort le 13 août 1863 à Paris

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