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.
Forston House
Author: hurstcr60
C.R. Hurst, who taught writing and language at a small college in Pennsylvania for over 25 years, retired early and moved to the North Carolina mountains where she lives with her husband and a black cat named Molly. CR loves the outdoors, reads too much and writes too little. A realist with two feet planted in the 21st century, she nevertheless enjoys escaping into the past with historical fiction.
Beloved Son
Gallery of Beauties
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.
The King and Queen of Greece
Of Friends and Acquaintances
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.
Palmyra
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.
Jane Digby in Europe
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.
Hafez
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:
Gentlemen and Rogues
Prince Felix Schwarzenberg
King Ludwig I
Count Spirodon Theotky
General Xristos Hadji-Petros
Almack’s
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.
