Maria Cosway (1760-1838) - The exceptionnal Journey of an Artist

Catalogue of the exhibition Maria Cosway 1760-1838. The exceptionnal Journey of an Artist, presented at the Musée Pasquale Paoli, Corsica (18 May - 30 October 2024).

From her childhood in Tuscany, Maria Cosway's destiny was clear: she was to be a painter. In Florence and Rome, the English artists who crossed her path predicted her great destiny as a history painter.

In London, where her career began with an exhibition of her work at the Royal Academy of Arts, she was an immediate success at the age of 22. Married to Richard Cosway, official painter to the Prince of Wales, she led a lavish life, entertaining the whole of London's High Society in her musical salons. A friend of Thomas Jefferson, Letizia Bonaparte, Cardinal Fesch, the painter Jacques Louis David and the sculptor Antonio Canova, she wove a veritable network of influence around the world.

Nicknamed ‘the tenth muse’ by her accomplice Pasquale Paoli, she was the centre of attention but continued to search for her true place. Defying all predictions, Maria Cosway finally found her emancipation in a completely different direction: educating young girls. This is the unique story of this extraordinary woman.

The catalogue for the exhibition dedicated to Maria Cosway, the fruit of two years' work in collaboration with leading British and Italian institutions, is richly illustrated and documented by renowned art historians specialising in the 18th century, under the direction of Amandine Rabier, the exhibition's curator.