"The Princess (Belgiojoso) is a woman much apart from other women, not very attractive, twenty-nine years old, pale, black hair, Italian-white complexion, thin, and playing the vampire. She has the good fortune to displease me, though she is clever; but she poses too much. I saw her first five years ago at Gerard's; she came from Switzerland, where she had taken refuge."
The Princesse Belgiojoso had her early education entrusted to men of broad learning whose political views were opposed to Austria. She was reared in Milan in the home of her young step-father, who had been connected with the /Conciliatore/. His home was the rendezvous of the artistic and literary celebrities of the day; but beneath the surface lay conspiracy. At the age of sixteen she was married to her fellow townsman, the rich, handsome, pleasure-loving, musical Prince Belgiojoso, but the union was an unhappy one. Extremely patriotic, she plunged into conspiracy.
In 1831, she went to Paris, opened a salon and mingled in politics, meeting the great men of the age, many of whom fell in love with her. Her salon was filled with people famous for wit, learning and beauty, equaling that of Madame Recamier; Balzac was among the number. If Madame de Girardin was the Tenth Muse, the Princesse Belgiojoso was the Romantic Muse. She was almost elected president of /Les Academies de Femmes en France/ under the faction led by George Sand, the rival party being led by Madame de Girardin.
Again becoming involved in Italian politics, and exiled from her home and adopted country, she went to the Orient with her daughter Maria, partly supporting herself with her pen. After her departure, the finding of the corpse of Stelzi in her cupboard caused her to be compared to the Spanish Juana Loca, but she was only eccentric. While in the Orient she was stabbed and almost lost her life. In 1853 she returned to France, then to Milan where she maintained a salon, but she deteriorated physically and mentally.
For almost half a century her name was familiar not alone in Italian political and patriotic circles, but throughout intellectual Europe. The personality of this strange woman was veiled in a haze of mystery, and a halo of martyrdom hung over her head. Notwithstanding her eccentricities and exaggerations, she wielded an intellectual fascination in her time, and her exalted social position, her beauty, and her independence of character gave to her a place of conspicuous prominence.
As to whether Balzac always sustained an indifferent attitude towards the Princesse Belgiojoso there is some question, but he always expressed a feeling of nonchalance in writing about her to Madame Hanska. He regarded her as a courtesan, a beautiful /Imperia/, but of the extreme blue-stocking type. She was superficial in her criticism, and received numbers of /criticons/ who could not write. She wrote him at the request of the editor asking him to contribute a story for the /Democratie Pacifique/.
Balzac visited her frequently, calling her the Princesse /Bellejoyeuse/, and she rendered him many services, but he probably guarded against too great an intimacy, having witnessed the fate of Alfred de Musset. He was, however, greatly impressed by her beauty, and in the much discussed letter to his sister Laure he speaks of Madame Hanska as a masterpiece of beauty who could be compared only to the Princesse /Bellejoyeuse/, only infinitely more beautiful. Some years later, however, this beauty had changed for him into an ugliness that was even repulsive.
It amused the novelist very much to have people think that he had dedicated to the Princesse Belgiojoso /Modeste Mignon/, a work written in part by Madame Hanska, and dedicated to her. In the first edition this book was dedicated to a foreign lady, but seeing the false impression made he dedicated it, in its second edition to a Polish lady. He did, however, dedicate /Gaudissart II/ to:
Madame la Princesse de Belgiojoso, nee Trivulce.
Balzac found much rest and recuperation in travel, and in going to Turin, in 1836, instead of traveling alone, he was accompanied by a most charming lady, Madame Caroline Marbouty. She had literary pretensions and some talent, writing under the pseudonym of /Claire Brune/. Her work consisted of a small volume of poetry and several novels. She was much pleased at being taken frequently for George Sand, whom she resembled very much; and like her, she dressed as a man. Balzac took much pleasure in intriguing every one regarding his charming young page, whom he introduced in aristocratic Italian society; but to no one did he disclose the real name or sex of his traveling companion.