Tithe Muse

Teresa Bandettini was one of the most talented eclectic woman of the XIX century. Her calling to art was strong and carnal. Her impetuous verses took over her, exposing her naked soul to the viewer.

Teresa Bandettini, also known as Amarilli Etrusca, was one of the most talented, eclectic woman of the XIX century, born in Lucca in 1763. She is well known as a dancer, since she performed at earlier age. She precociously showed a sensitiveness towards poems and poetry to the point that she was said to be able to compose verses at the age of 7 years old.

Her interests ranged from classical literature to mythology. She loved latin and she deepened classical poetry such as Dante’s and Ovid’s masterpieces therefore people called her “The intellectual dancer”. Supported by her husband Pietro Landucci, she quit dance career in order to focus on poetry and the art of extemporization. She got an enormous success across Italy due mostly to her captivating and touching performances. In 1805 she wrote the Teseide, a poem on the footsteps of Virgil’s Aeneid, and she was the first woman to be part of Arcadia Academy with the Arcadian nickname of Amarilli Etrusca. She became so famous that she had been performing in front of the important audiences such as Napoleon and Maria Luisa of Bourbon. During her life Teresa Bandettini was celebrated by the greatest Italian artists of the time such as Vittorio Alfieri and Vincenzo Monti. Like many other important women of the past her popularity and fame faded after her dead in 1837.

The aim of this project is to give Teresa Bandettini the deserved place in Art and History and celebrate her creative genius: since she is almost unknown between people of Lucca even, I decided to portrayed her through a series of diptychs inspired by Teresa Bandettini's feminine character and the deep knowledge she could source to create her art.

I invite the viewer to seek the mystery beyond the appearance, in the broken up image, in the place between real and surreal.