| Description | Includes correspondence of a personal nature concerning the relationship between Vertova and Nicolson; physical intimacy & possible marriage. Letters also concern friends & acquaintances; Vertova's work at I Tatti with Berenson and Nicolson's purchase of a work by Terbrugghen. Letters from October onwards concern Vertova's visit to the USA as a Fulbright Scholar, during which she visited museums and art collections from East to West coast.
Of particular note:
-letter, dated 31 December 1953/1 January 1954, concerning Vertova's relationship with, and ongoing affection for, an unnamed individual; how the Second World War removed restrictions traditionally imposed on females and enabled her to work; her financial situation
-two letters, dated 13 & 22 January, concerning the photographic archive at I Tatti and the exchange of images with Nicolson and other institutions. Also concerns Donato Sanminiatelli
-two letters, dated 2 & 10 February, concerning William Mostyn-Owen
-letter, dated 24 February, concerning Derek Hill; Cyril Connolly and Vertova's application for a 3 month scholarship in the USA
-letter, dated 12 March, concerning Bernard Berenson's recollections of Walter Pater; Vertova's recollections of her childhood and thoughts about her mother
-letter, dated 24 March, concerning the Italian artistocracy; Vertova's father; and social class
-letter, dated 5 April, concerning visitors to, & Vertova's work at, I Tatti and the circumstances of Vertova's engagement to Nicolson
-letter, dated 9 June, concerning a visit to Cosa Ausedonia, social and agricultural improvements in the Maremma area brought about by 'bonifica'; Vertova's plans to buy a small flat in Florence
-letter, dated 14 June, concerning Vertova's work on Berenson's lists 'I am quite tired of this sort of intellectual darning, mending, washing, ironing to transform an old balldress into a new one'
-letter, dated 10 July, concerning Vertova's visit to the Venice Biennale
-letter, dated 17 October, concerning Vertova's visit to Yale, New Haven and New York. |