Object details
Object number
ARC.006479
Creator(s)
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Unknown
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photographer
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F. Marion Crawford
(Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 1854 - 1909, Sorrento, Italy)
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subject
Title
F. Marion Crawford
Date
about 1882
Medium
Albumen print on card
Language
English
Dimensions
23 x 17.9 cm (9 1/16 x 7 1/16 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscribed in ink (verso): May 1882
Provenance
Probably a gift from author F. Marion Crawford (1854-1909) to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1882.
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner and the novelist F. Marion Crawford bonded over a love of the Italian poet Dante. Their close relationship inspired rumors of an affair. It is impossible to know whether or not the two had a physical affair, but the surviving traces of their mutual admiration have romantic undertones. This photograph is just one of the many letters, books, and manuscripts Isabella displayed in the Crawford/Chapman Case.
Bibliography
Diana Seave Greenwald, "Did They or Didn't They? F. Marion Crawford and Isabella Stewart Gardner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 March 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/f-marion-crawford-and-isabella-stewart-gardner
Gallery
Blue Room
Case
Crawford / Chapman Case
Rights and reproductions
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