Franny Moyle

Culta, comprometida con el feminismo, de familia acomodada y mentalidad progresista, Constance Lloyd se convirtió en celebrity a raíz de su matrimonio con uno de los hombres más brillantes de su tiempo, aunque supo defender su propia parcela creativa en el campo literario y las artes decorativas. Madre de dos hijos, al compartir la vida de Wilde compartio tambien su destino: la caida de una figura estelar, chivo expiatorio de la hipocresia victoriana. En el cementerio protestante de Genova un sencillo monumento funerario evoca la memoria de Constance Holland (1859-1898). Aunque sobre una breve cita biblica en su dia solo se grabo un nombre, Constance Mary, hija de Horace Lloyd, en 1960 a la enigmatica inscripcion se añadio otra, escueta pero muy reveladora: Esposa de Oscar Wilde. La sepultura plantea un autentico enigma cuyas claves Franny Moyle se ocupa de desvelar en esta biografia. Constance es el retrato de una epoca, pero sobre todo nos permite comprender la insolita y tragica peripecia vital de una de las mujeres mas conocidas de la Gran Bretaña de finales del XIX. Una mujer fuerte, cuyo lema fue Qui patitur vincit: Quien sabe sufrir, triunfa.

In the late autumn of 1789 two of Europe s most celebrated painters met in Rome One Angelica Kauffman was a Swiss born prodigy who had conquered the art scenes of London and Italy The other Élisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun a Parisienne portraitist and favourite of the ancien regime had just fled revolutionary France under threat of violence and scandal Both were feted in their time both were trailblazers in a male dominated world visionaries who helped define eighteenth century art and feminism before the term existed This dual biography framed within a thrilling story restores these two extraordinary but unjustly overlooked figures to their rightful place in history Set against a backdrop of revolution empire and Enlightenment it traces the dramatic lives and remarkable careers of Vigee Le Brun and Kauffman artists who not only achieved unparalleled success and influence but did so while pushing the boundaries of what women could be both on canvas and in society With vivid storytelling one of the most gifted living writers of artistic biography Franny Moyle reclaims their legacies She examines how each artist navigated fame scandal and exile explores the relationships between them and their peers and considers how they were caught up in the