{"product_id":"the-contessa","title":"The Contessa","description":"\u003cp\u003eCelebrity, seductress, covert diplomat. Virginia Verasis, Contessa di Castiglione, was the original \"famous for being famous\" It Girl. This thrilling, transporting biography explores the countessa's fascinating, provocative, and dramatic life in all its mess and glory.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVirginia Verasis, Countess of Castiglione—the nineteenth-century aristocrat, socialite, and beauty—has become famous for the enigmatic and operatic photographs of herself that she choreographed and staged, now seen as masterworks of the art. But her life story is no less extraordinary than her artistic vision, as Benedetta Craveri shows us in this groundbreaking new biography, which draws on archival material and the countess's own diaries to piece together the puzzle that was Virginia. \u003cem\u003ePaperback, 520 pages\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67925571895663,"sku":"76114","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/6368\/0098\/files\/THECONTESSA_cover_jpg.png?v=1793223235","url":"https:\/\/shop.famsf.org\/products\/the-contessa","provider":"de Young \u0026 Legion of Honor Museum Stores","version":"1.0","type":"link"}