Another pose from the same sitting

'DEATH OF A FAMOUS PRIMA-DONNA — Mme Piccolomini, a well-known prima-donna of a byegone day, died at a village near Florence a day or two ago. Her name was Maria Piccolomini, and she came of one of the best families of Italy. Her ancestors included two Popes — Pius II and Pius III — and statesmen, warriors, artists, and writers without number. Her father was a nobleman, and her uncle a cardinal. Her parents strongly objected to her adopting music as a profession, but she had a will of her own, and a singer she became. She played Lucrezia Borgia at Florence when she was 16. The Florentines were so delighted with her singer and acting that one night they resolved to take the horses out of her carriage and draw her home in triumph. Piccolomini did not approve of the idea. She stood up, eyes flashing, cheeks flushed, and said "Italians, do not put yourselves in the place of brute beasts. Our country has higher and nobler duties for her children!" As the war of independence was then in progress the words had a deep significance. The little aristocrat went home alone She first appeared in London in 1856, when she was 23 years old, playing Violetta in La Traviata. She instantly became the rage of London. Her acting was uncommonly realistic, even to the introduction of a consumptive little cough in the last act; and her slight, charming figure, her elegance of movement, and her winning manner made her a very pleasing Violetta. Chorley [Henry Fothergill Chorley, English literary, art and music critic, writer and editor] did not think much of her voice. He said it was weak, limited to an octave and a half, that Piccolomini was not pure in her intonation, and that she had no execution. Whether this was true or not she was the Queen of opera in London, and her fees were on a queenly scale. In 1860 she married the Marquis Gaetani della Fargia [sic]. In 1884 she was in reduced circumstances, and a testimonial was set on foot for her assistance' (Cheltenham Chronicle, 30 December 1899).