Presidents and Celebrities: Thomas Jefferson and Maria Cosway
Maria Luisa Caterina Cecilia Cosway was an Italian-English artist and educator. Born Maria Hadfield, she had studied art under Violante Cerroti and Johann Zoffany if Florence and from 1773 to 1778, she copied Old Masters at the Uffizi Gallery. She was talented enought to be elected to the Academia del Disegno in Florence in 1778. She also went to Rome, where she studied art under Pompeo Batoni along with a number of other famous contemporary artists including Anton Raphael Mengs, Henry Fuseli, and Joseph Wright of Derby. She first exhibited her works in 1781 and she went on to gain notoriety as a painter of mythological scenes.
On January 18, 1781, Maria Hadfield married a fellow artist, a celebrated miniature portrait painter named Richard Cosway. It was not a happy marriage. He was 20 years her senior, and had numerus affairs despite being a homely man. (He is described as "resembling a monkey.") Richard and Maria had one child together, Louisa Paolina Angelica. The Cosways separated and Maria travelled to France and Italy. while Richard was openly having an affair. While she was travelling on the continent, their young daughter Louisa died.
Cosway had sent an engraving of her painting "The Hours" to the French painter Jacques-Louis David, who complimented her work, writing, "one could not create a more ingenious or more natural poetic work." Her fame grew throughout France. It was at the Grain Market (known as the "Halles aux Bleds") in Paris, that the Cosways were introduced to forty-three year old Thomas Jefferson in August of 1786 by the artist John Trumbull. Jefferson had been a widower since September of 1782 when his wife Martha died after giving birth to their sixth child. Jefferson was serving as American Minister to France. It seems that Jefferson was instantly smitten with twenty-seven year old Maria. He cancelled his dinner with another scheduled dinner companion, falsely claiming that he needed to tend to official business. In fact he spent the evening with Maria at the Palais Royal.
Besides a mutual infatuation, the couple also shared an interest in art and architecture. They attended several art exhibits together throughout the city and toured the French countryside. Jefferson wrote of their time together. On one of these he wrote, "How beautiful was every object! the Pont du Neuilly, the hills along the Seine, the rainbows of the Machine of Marly, the terraces of Saint Germain, the chateaux, the gardens, the statues of Marly, the Pavilion of Louveciennes. In the evening, when one took a retrospect of the day, what a mass of happiness had we travelled over!" For the next six weeks, the two spent each day together and Jefferson developed a romantic attachment to Cosway.
Richard Cosway insisted that he and his wife return to London. Jefferson was heartbroken. On October 12 and 13 of 1786 he wrote a 4,000-word love letter to Maria Cosway which he titled "The Dialogue of the Head vs. the Heart." In it he describes his head conversing with his heart about the struggle between the practical and the romantic. In the letter he wrote: "I feel more fit for death than life. But when I look back on the pleasures of which it is a consequence, I am conscious they were worth the price I am paying."
At this point in his life, Jefferson was likely quite emotionally insecure. His wife Martha Jefferson had died four years before and on her deathbed she had reportedly asked for his promise that he would not remarry. While in Paris, Jefferson had learned of the death of his youngest daughter Lucy. It was also while in Paris that Jefferson began a relationship with Sally Hemings, a mixed race enslaved young woman, whose father was also the father of his late wife, and who at the time was between fourteen and sixteen years of age. She was pregnant by him when the household returned to Washington in 1789.
Cosway travelled to Paris to meet Jefferson again, but she is said to have found him more distant. Historians believe nothing further developed between the two beyond correspondence. Jefferson eventually stopped writing her until some time later when she contacted him and the two of them renewed their correspondence, which continued until his death. Before Jefferson left Paris, he wrote to her, stating: "I am going to America and you are going to Italy. One of us is going the wrong way, for the way will ever be wrong that leads us further apart." The two of them kept images of the other. Jefferson kept an engraving of Maria by Luigi Schiavonetti from a drawing by Maria's husband. John Trumbull was commissioned by Maria to paint a portrait of Jefferson. This painting now hangs in the White House.
After Jefferson returned to the United States, Cosway kept up her interest in French politics. In 1797, then living on Oxford Street in London, she commissioned artist Francesco Cossia to create what was is believed to be the first portrait of Napoleon seen in England. She met Napoleon while copying Napoleon Crossing the Alps by her friend Jacques-Louis David. She became a close friend of Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch.
In 1995 a movie version of these events was released in theatres. It was entitled Jefferson in Paris and starred Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson, Greta Scacchi as Maria Cosway, Gwyneth Paltrow as Patsy Jefferson, and Thandie Newton as Sally Hemings. It is is a semi-fictional account of Thomas Jefferson's tenure as the Ambassador of the United States to France prior to his Presidency, and his alleged relationships with artist Maria Cosway and slave Sally Hemings. The film was shot on location in Paris and Versailles.
In her review in the New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film "an extraordinary spectacle, the rare contemporary film that's both an entertainment and an education, despite some glaring misimpressions that are sure to spark heated debate. The biggest problem with [the film] is at the basic editing level, with such abrupt jumps between diverse scenes that the film's momentum remains choppy. Overshadowed by its own ambition and not-quite-ironic pageantry, Jefferson in Paris doesn't quite come to life. Casting Nick Nolte as a Founding Father may sound like this film's riskiest choice, but in fact it makes solid sense. Beyond having the right physical stature for the imposing, sandy-haired Jefferson, Mr. Nolte captures the man's vigor and his stiff sense of propriety. He may not adapt effortlessly to the role of an intellectual giant, but his performance is thoroughly creditable. The film makers fare less successfully with Maria Cosway. Ms. Scacchi, the film's big casting problem, makes her so bloodless and prettily artificial that the romance never seems real. There's much more spice in Ms. Newton's captivating performance as Sally Hemings, even if she gives this teen-age slave girl the unexpected fiddle-dee-dee flirtatiousness of a Scarlett O'Hara."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, "The film is lavishly produced and visually splendid, like all the Merchant-Ivory productions. But what is it about? Revolution? History? Slavery? Romance? No doubt a lot of research and speculation went into Jhabvala's screenplay, but I wish she had finally decided to jump one way or the other. The movie tells no clear story and has no clear ideas."
The film did poorly at the box office. The film was budgeted at $14 million. It grossed $2,473,668 in the US. Here is the trailer for the movie:
On January 18, 1781, Maria Hadfield married a fellow artist, a celebrated miniature portrait painter named Richard Cosway. It was not a happy marriage. He was 20 years her senior, and had numerus affairs despite being a homely man. (He is described as "resembling a monkey.") Richard and Maria had one child together, Louisa Paolina Angelica. The Cosways separated and Maria travelled to France and Italy. while Richard was openly having an affair. While she was travelling on the continent, their young daughter Louisa died.
Cosway had sent an engraving of her painting "The Hours" to the French painter Jacques-Louis David, who complimented her work, writing, "one could not create a more ingenious or more natural poetic work." Her fame grew throughout France. It was at the Grain Market (known as the "Halles aux Bleds") in Paris, that the Cosways were introduced to forty-three year old Thomas Jefferson in August of 1786 by the artist John Trumbull. Jefferson had been a widower since September of 1782 when his wife Martha died after giving birth to their sixth child. Jefferson was serving as American Minister to France. It seems that Jefferson was instantly smitten with twenty-seven year old Maria. He cancelled his dinner with another scheduled dinner companion, falsely claiming that he needed to tend to official business. In fact he spent the evening with Maria at the Palais Royal.
Besides a mutual infatuation, the couple also shared an interest in art and architecture. They attended several art exhibits together throughout the city and toured the French countryside. Jefferson wrote of their time together. On one of these he wrote, "How beautiful was every object! the Pont du Neuilly, the hills along the Seine, the rainbows of the Machine of Marly, the terraces of Saint Germain, the chateaux, the gardens, the statues of Marly, the Pavilion of Louveciennes. In the evening, when one took a retrospect of the day, what a mass of happiness had we travelled over!" For the next six weeks, the two spent each day together and Jefferson developed a romantic attachment to Cosway.
Richard Cosway insisted that he and his wife return to London. Jefferson was heartbroken. On October 12 and 13 of 1786 he wrote a 4,000-word love letter to Maria Cosway which he titled "The Dialogue of the Head vs. the Heart." In it he describes his head conversing with his heart about the struggle between the practical and the romantic. In the letter he wrote: "I feel more fit for death than life. But when I look back on the pleasures of which it is a consequence, I am conscious they were worth the price I am paying."
At this point in his life, Jefferson was likely quite emotionally insecure. His wife Martha Jefferson had died four years before and on her deathbed she had reportedly asked for his promise that he would not remarry. While in Paris, Jefferson had learned of the death of his youngest daughter Lucy. It was also while in Paris that Jefferson began a relationship with Sally Hemings, a mixed race enslaved young woman, whose father was also the father of his late wife, and who at the time was between fourteen and sixteen years of age. She was pregnant by him when the household returned to Washington in 1789.
Cosway travelled to Paris to meet Jefferson again, but she is said to have found him more distant. Historians believe nothing further developed between the two beyond correspondence. Jefferson eventually stopped writing her until some time later when she contacted him and the two of them renewed their correspondence, which continued until his death. Before Jefferson left Paris, he wrote to her, stating: "I am going to America and you are going to Italy. One of us is going the wrong way, for the way will ever be wrong that leads us further apart." The two of them kept images of the other. Jefferson kept an engraving of Maria by Luigi Schiavonetti from a drawing by Maria's husband. John Trumbull was commissioned by Maria to paint a portrait of Jefferson. This painting now hangs in the White House.
After Jefferson returned to the United States, Cosway kept up her interest in French politics. In 1797, then living on Oxford Street in London, she commissioned artist Francesco Cossia to create what was is believed to be the first portrait of Napoleon seen in England. She met Napoleon while copying Napoleon Crossing the Alps by her friend Jacques-Louis David. She became a close friend of Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch.
In 1995 a movie version of these events was released in theatres. It was entitled Jefferson in Paris and starred Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson, Greta Scacchi as Maria Cosway, Gwyneth Paltrow as Patsy Jefferson, and Thandie Newton as Sally Hemings. It is is a semi-fictional account of Thomas Jefferson's tenure as the Ambassador of the United States to France prior to his Presidency, and his alleged relationships with artist Maria Cosway and slave Sally Hemings. The film was shot on location in Paris and Versailles.
In her review in the New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film "an extraordinary spectacle, the rare contemporary film that's both an entertainment and an education, despite some glaring misimpressions that are sure to spark heated debate. The biggest problem with [the film] is at the basic editing level, with such abrupt jumps between diverse scenes that the film's momentum remains choppy. Overshadowed by its own ambition and not-quite-ironic pageantry, Jefferson in Paris doesn't quite come to life. Casting Nick Nolte as a Founding Father may sound like this film's riskiest choice, but in fact it makes solid sense. Beyond having the right physical stature for the imposing, sandy-haired Jefferson, Mr. Nolte captures the man's vigor and his stiff sense of propriety. He may not adapt effortlessly to the role of an intellectual giant, but his performance is thoroughly creditable. The film makers fare less successfully with Maria Cosway. Ms. Scacchi, the film's big casting problem, makes her so bloodless and prettily artificial that the romance never seems real. There's much more spice in Ms. Newton's captivating performance as Sally Hemings, even if she gives this teen-age slave girl the unexpected fiddle-dee-dee flirtatiousness of a Scarlett O'Hara."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, "The film is lavishly produced and visually splendid, like all the Merchant-Ivory productions. But what is it about? Revolution? History? Slavery? Romance? No doubt a lot of research and speculation went into Jhabvala's screenplay, but I wish she had finally decided to jump one way or the other. The movie tells no clear story and has no clear ideas."
The film did poorly at the box office. The film was budgeted at $14 million. It grossed $2,473,668 in the US. Here is the trailer for the movie: