Prostitute who became a celebrity
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| Raphael's Galatea in his frescoes at the Villa Farnesina in Rome is thought to be Imperia |
Courtesans were originally the female companions of
courtiers of the papal court, whose duties required them to be educated and
familiar with etiquette, so that they could participate in the formalities of
court life and take part in polite conversation.
In time, however, in some cases their companionship became
of a more intimate nature and they became the mistresses of their
courtiers, who in the papal court were clerics nor permitted to marry.
It was common, too, for courtesans to be the companions of
several clients simultaneously. They
were in effect a new class of prostitute, refined and educated enough to hold
their own in polite society.
Imperia Cognati acquired her elevated status mainly through
being the chosen companion of Agostino Chigi, a Sienese banker closely
associated with Pope Alexander VI and others and a patron of the
Renaissance. At one time he was thought
to be the richest banker in the world.
He lavished Imperia – as she was usually known – to the extent
that she could afford to keep both a palace in Rome and a country villa.
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| The statue named Imperia at Konstanz is said to have been inspired by Balzac's fictional portrayal of a courtesan |
Imperia posed as a model for Raphael on a number of
occasions. It is thought that the nymph
Galatea in the frescoes Raphael painted for the Villa Farnesina in Rome, built
by Chigi, is actually Imperia.
Imperia’s background is not entirely clear. Some sources
suggest she hailed from Ferrara but the consensus is that she was born in Rome,
the daughter of a prostitute, Diana di Pietro Cognati, and raised in Via
Alessandrina in the district of Borgo.
It was speculated that her father was Paris de Grassis, who would
later serve as master of ceremonies under Pope Julius II, which may explain how
she acquired an education, and why she at times referred to herself as Imperia
de Paris.
She gave birth to a daughter, named Lucrezia, at the age of
17, of whom the father was assumed to be Chigi.
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| The artist Raphael was among Imperia's lovers at the time she posed for him |
Various theories have been put forward as to what might have
prompted her to take her own life. One is that she was distraught that Angelo
di Bufalo, supposedly her true love, decided to end their relationship, another
is that she felt pushed out when Chigi took a new, younger mistress.
Whatever the reason, she was given a stately funeral in
Rome, fit for a noblewoman rather than a prostitute, paid for by Agostino
Chigi. She was buried at the church of
San Gregorio Magno al Celio in Rome, although the monument erected in her name
has not survived.
Apart from her image being preserved in works by Raphael,
Imperia is thought to have been the inspiration for Honoré de Balzac’s 1832
story La Belle Impéria, set in the time of the Council of Konstanz, which ended
the Western Schism in the Catholic Church, in which a courtesan is given the
name Imperia.
The character in Balzac’s novel has been portrayed by the
German painter Lovis Corinth in 1925, and also inspired the larger-than-life
Imperia statue in the harbour of Konstanz, the town on the lake in Germany of
the same name, erected in 1993.
Travel tip:
Via Alessandrina is a street, nowadays closed to vehicles,
that runs alongside the Roman ruins of the Italian capital, from the Forum in the
direction of the Colosseum, joining up with Via dei Fori Imperiali.
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| The Villa Farnesina in the Trastevere district in Rome |
The Villa Farnesina, built by Baldassare Peruzzi for Agostino Chigi, can be found in
the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome. Owned at
different times by the Bourbons of Naples and the Spanish Ambassador in Rome, it
is today owned by the Italian State and accommodates the Accademia dei Lincei,
a renowned Roman academy of sciences. The main rooms of the villa, including the
Loggia, are open to visitors.
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