Miss Grief and Other Stories (37 page)

116
  
as Sister St. Luke
: The nun is named after St. Luke, or Luke the Evangelist, the author of the Gospel according to Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. A disciple of Paul, Luke is referred to in the Bible as a physician and was regarded by Catholics as the patron saint of artists, doctors, and students.

117
  
first-class Fresnel
: A Fresnel lens, invented by Augustin-Jean Fresnel in 1822, contained many concentric rings that reflected light for greater distances than any previous lens.

117
  
Pelican Island
: A name invented by Woolson.

117
  
a hideous barber's pole
: The history Woolson describes is that of the St. Augustine lighthouse, which was completed in October 1874. It is decorated with black and white stripes to this day. It sits on Anastasia Island, which is fourteen miles long and one mile wide—about the size of Pelican Island in the story. The island was developed in the twentieth century, except for the 1500-acre Anastasia State Park.

118
  
Queen of the Antilles
: A nickname for Cuba. The Windward
Islands are those Caribbean islands of the West Indies south of Dominica, while the Leeward Islands are those north of Martinique.

118
  
Huguenot
: The Huguenots were French Protestants who were forced to emigrate or, if they remained in France, to convert to Catholicism. A Huguenot colony was founded in present-day Jacksonville, Florida, in 1564 but destroyed by Catholic Spanish forces, who massacred their remaining troops near St. Augustine in 1565.

130
  
“Deep on the convent roof …”
: Opening of “St. Agnes' Eve” (1837) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892).

133
  
Santa Inez
: Saint Agnes of Rome, patron saint of virgins, gardeners, and engaged couples, was portrayed with a lamb, as her name means lamb in Latin.

133
  
Santa Rufina
: According to legend, Rufina and her sister, Justa, sold earthenware pottery in Seville, Spain, in the third century. They were martyred for their Christian faith when they refused to sell their vases for pagan ceremonies.

139
  
froward
: Difficult to deal with, disposed to disobedience.

140
  
primary rocks
: Believed to be the first rocks that formed on Earth, as they contain no organic material.

140
  
galleon
: A big sailing ship that could carry a large cargo, as well as cannon, used in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by the Spanish and Portuguese for their New World expeditions.

“
MISS GRIEF
”

158
  
“When found, make a note of it”
: A quotation from
Dombey and Son
(1848), by Charles Dickens (1812–1870).

158
  
Isabel
: The name was Ethelind in the original magazine publication.

160
  
Balzac
: Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), author of the sequence
of novels known as
La Comédie humaine
and founder of French realism, was a great influence on Henry James.

160
  
the Furies
: Goddesses of fury and revenge in Greek mythology.

161
  
Tullia or Lucrezia
: Tullia D'Aragona (1510?–1556), Italian poet and courtesan. Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519), daughter of Pope Alexander VI and member of the ruthless Borgia family from Rome, who may have killed her second husband.

169
  
“V
æ
victis!”
: Latin: Woe to the vanquished!

175
  
Kubla Khan
: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) said he wrote the poem “Kubla Khan” (1816) under the influence of opium.

185
  
memento mori
:
Latin: Reminder of mortality.

A FLORENTINE EXPERIMENT

192
  
Palazzo Vecchio
: The town hall of Florence, built in 1299, with a tall bell-tower.

193
  
the Lakes
: Refers to the lakes in the north of Italy along the border with Switzerland, principally Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, and Lake Garda.

199
  
Roman nose
: A nose with a high bridge, believed to correlate with nobility or power.

201
  
Boboli Garden
: The formal gardens laid out behind the Pitti Palace in Florence, covering over a hundred acres.

205
  
an Apollo, an Endymion
: Apollo was the Greek and Roman god of the sun, eloquence, poetry, knowledge, medicine, and truth. In Greek mythology, Endymion was a handsome youth desired by the moon goddess Selene.

207
  
Baedeker, Horner, and Hare
: Baedekers were the most popular European guidebooks, produced in Germany. Horner refers to
Walks in Florence
, published in 1873, by
Susan and Joanna Horner. Hare refers to Augustus Hare's
Cities of Central and Northern Italy,
published in 1876.

207
  
Cascine
: Florence's largest public park, on the right, or north, bank of the Arno River.

207
  
Giotto and Botticelli
: The painter and architect Giotto di Bondone (1266?–1337), considered the forefather of the Italian Renaissance, revived the art of painting with proportion and perspective. The early Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) had been forgotten but was rediscovered by Anglo-American critics in the nineteenth century. Both Giotto and Botticelli were favorites of Henry James.

208
  
the great statue of Abbondanza
: The Column of Abundance (
abbondanza
in Italian), topped with a statue of Plenty holding a cornucopia, is at the top of the hill above the Neptune Pond in the Boboli Gardens.

208
  
the Duomo
: The cathedral in Florence, which is known for its brick dome, the largest in the world. The building was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and completed in 1436. Its free-standing bell-tower was designed by Giotto and completed by others in 1359.

209
  
Santa Maria Novella
: The Basilica and Cloisters of Santa Maria Novella, built in the Gothic-Romanesque style in the late thirteenth century, in the northwest quarter of Florence. In
Mornings in Florence
, John Ruskin attributed the fresco there of
The Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple
to Giotto, but it is today attributed to Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494). The painting of
The Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple
(1534–1538) by Titian (Tiziano Vecelli; 1488?–1576) is at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

209
  
round Botticelli of the Uffizi
: A reference to one of two Botticelli paintings,
Madonna of the Magnificat
(1481) or
Madonna of the Pomegranate
(1487).

209
  
one in the Prometheus room
: This probably refers to
Madonna and Child with Young St. John
(1495?), also by Botticelli.

211
  
the Academy
: The Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence is the home of Michelangelo's David, which was moved there in 1873.

211
  
the monastery of San Marco
: One of Woolson's favorite sites in Florence, it houses a museum that includes monks' cells decorated with frescos by Fra Angelico.

211
  
De Contemptu Mundi
: The title of an epistle by Eucherius of Lyons (d. 449), written about 427, which denounced the vanity of the material world. Latin for “on contempt for the world.”

211
  
Dante's
Vita Nuova
:
La Vita Nuova
, Italian for “the new life,” by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), published in 1295, documents his great love for Beatrice.

212
  
Semper Fidelis
: Latin for “always faithful.” The poem is by Woolson.

221
  
“Madonna of the Chair”
:
Madonna della Siggiola
(1513–1514) by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio; 1483–1520).

221
  
young man in black
:
Portrait of a Young Englishman
(1540–1545) by Titian, one of Henry James's favorite paintings.

224
  
arrangements in black and white
: Probably a reference to
Arrangement in Grey
and Black No. 1
(1871) by James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), also known as
Portrait of the Artist's Mother.
The painting was notorious for what many deemed its elevation of form and color over an emotional evocation of its subject matter.

225
  
bosky
: Containing many bushes or trees.

229
  
Romola
: The title character of the 1863 novel by George Eliot (1809–1880).
Romola
is set in Florence during the
Renaissance; Tito is a beautiful Greek scholar with whom Romola falls in love.

230
  
St. Peter the Martyr
: Also called Peter of Verona (1205–1252), he was a priest who was assassinated while serving as the inquisitor of Lombardy. The
Triptych of St. Peter the Martyr
(1429) by Fra Angelico resides at the monastery of San Marco.

230
  
the Michael Angelo chapel of San Lorenzo
: The Medici Chapels (1521–1534) at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, or the Sagrestia Nuova (“New Sacristy”), were designed by Michelangelo (1475–1564) as a mausoleum for the Medici family.

230
  
beautiful Dawn …hopeless sleep in Night
: In Michelangelo's mausoleum, the tomb of Lorenzo Duke of Urbino was topped by a statue of the duke and flanked by sculptures of allegorical figures Dawn and Dusk. The tomb of Giuliano Duke of Nemours was topped by a statue of the duke and flanked with sculptures of Day and Night. Woolson said she could not judge the widely admired naked, allegorical figures, but she was deeply moved by the clothed statue of Lorenzo, whose face expressed all of the woe of humanity.

233
  
“A fellow-feeling”
: The line “A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind,” from the English actor and playwright David Garrick's (1717–1779)
Prologue on Quitting the State
(1776), was often reprinted in books of poetry and quotations.

233
  
the Medici
: The family of bankers, princes, and popes that ruled Florence for more than three centuries, approximately five hundred members of which are buried in the crypt of the Medici Chapels. “Giovanni in his armor” refers to Ludovico di Giovanni de' Medici, known as Giovanni
dale Bande Nere (1498–1526). A Medici warrior, he was buried in his armor, although his tomb was opened and the armor transferred to the Stibbert Museum in 1857. Leonore of Toledo is Eleanor (1522–1562), wife of Cosimo I, grand duke of Tuscany.

236
  
Diana
: Roman goddess of hunting, the moon, and childbirth, protector of women.

240
  
Lung' Arno Nuovo
: The new part, or continuation of the street Lungarno, or embankment of the Arno River; today it is called Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci.

240
  
Bellosguardo
: Italian for “beautiful view,” the name of a hill outside of Florence on which Woolson would live from 1886 to 1889.

244
  
frescos of Masaccio at the Carmine
: The Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine is decorated with frescos by Masaccio (1401–1428), considered the first great Italian Renaissance painter.

244
  
a maroon-colored pamphlet
:
Mornings in Florence
(1875–1877), by John Ruskin (1819–1900), was the most authoritative guide for English speakers to Florence's art and architecture. Each chapter was bound separately in a red cover so that it could be carried around in one's pocket. Woolson used Ruskin as her guidebook but ultimately found his understanding of art too limited.

245
  
hackmen
: Taxi drivers. “Hack” is short for hackney, a carriage available to hire.

249
  
golconda
: A source of great wealth, from the Golconda mine in India, known for its diamonds.

251
  
mural tablet to Giotto
: A memorial plaque honoring Giotto, then believed to have been buried nearby.

IN SLOANE STREET

255
  
Memorials of a Quiet Life
: Title of a two-volume book (1872–1876) by Augustus J. C. Hare (1834–1903), his edition of his adoptive mother's memoir. Hare writes in the preface, “My mother's existence was so bound up with that of the immediate circle of her beloved ones …that the story of her life becomes of necessity that of their lives also.”

256
  
Mrs. Jameson and Ruskin
: Anna Brownell Jameson (1794–1860) was a novelist and art historian, author of an influential study of Christian iconography,
Sacred and Legendary Art
(1848). John Ruskin (1819–1900) was the most influential English art critic of the nineteenth century, author of the multivolume
Modern Painters
(1843–1860) and
The Stones of Venice
(1851–1853). His reputation had been severely damaged in the 1870s by the libel suit James McNeill Whistler brought against Ruskin for his scathing criticism of the artist's works.