
Here is a photograph of Jane’s childhood home which she visits one last time in the conclusion of Jane Digby’s Diary. Called White Lady, it will be published in 2021.
Here is a photograph of Jane’s childhood home which she visits one last time in the conclusion of Jane Digby’s Diary. Called White Lady, it will be published in 2021.
King Ludwig’s Gallery of Beauties in Munich’s Schloss Nymphenburg includes this portrait of Jane Digby painted by Joseph Stieler. Jane reportedly disliked the portrait, but it remains the most commonly seen rendering of her online. It is also the basis for the cover art for Mary S. Lovell’s excellent biography of Jane called A Scandalous Life: The Biography of Jane Digby. I recommend the book highly to readers who would like to learn more about the historical Jane’s scandalous life.
During her travels Jane Digby meets many famous personages from the 19th century, including . . .
A photograph of Honore de Balzac in 1842.
An 1858 painting of Edmond Francois Valentin About by Felix-Henri Giacomotti.
A drawing of the Duchess of Plaisance as a young woman.
This photograph from 2010 shows the ruins of Palmyra, or Tadmor, as Jane refers to it in Following an Eastern Star. Large portions of this ancient city were destroyed during the Syrian Civil War in 2015.
An insatiable traveller, Jane moved from London to Paris to Munich and beyond. She also lived in a time of great cultural and technological change – one such change was the invention of photography.
In Volume Three of Jane Digby’s Diary Jane discovers the Middle East – and the poetry of 14th century Persian writer, Hafez, who remains popular even today. What follows is one poem written by him that I have included in Following an Eastern Star:
Prince Felix Schwarzenberg
King Ludwig I
Count Spirodon Theotky
General Xristos Hadji-Petros
A period sketch of Almack’s of London where high society sees and is seen.
George Cruikshank’s cartoon of slender Countess Lieven, one of the patronesses of Almack’s, dancing with a rotund partner.