In addition to being Covering Photography’s unofficial mascot, the Countess de Castiglione (born Virginia Oldoini) was considered one of the most beautiful and mysterious women of 19th century Europe. To say that she was aware of her appearance would be an understatement; ‘obsessed’ might be a more accurate characterization. For much of her adult life, she ‘directed’ the French photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson in making hundreds of portraits of her in a variety of theatrical and very self-aware poses. In ‘Scherzo di Follia’ (translation: ‘Game of Madness’, a title taken from Giuseppi Verdi’s opera, ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ - 'A Masked Ball'), by far the most famous of these collaborative self-portraits, the act of peering through an empty picture frame simultaneously obscures and calls attention to her countenance. KB

Covering Photography is a web-based archive and resource for the study of the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. Read more about the project.