Gaetano Polidori | |
|---|---|
 1848. G.Polidori by D.G.Rossetti[1] | |
| Born | (1763-08-05)5 August 1763 |
| Died | 16 December 1853(1853-12-16) (aged 90)[2] |
| Occupation(s) | writer, publisher |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingJohn William andFrances |
Gaetano Fedele Polidori (5 August 1763 – 16 December 1853) was an Italian writer and scholar, ofGreek descent,[3] living inHighgate. He was the son of Agostino Ansano Polidori (1714–1778), a physician and poet who lived and practised in his nativeBientina, nearPisa,Tuscany.
Polidori studied law at theUniversity of Pisa. He became secretary to the tragedianVittorio Alfieri in 1785 and remained with him four years.
He came to England fromParis in 1790 after resigning as Alfieri's secretary. He settled in Highgate, working as anItalian teacher and translator. He translated various literary works, notably,John Milton'sParadise Lost andHorace Walpole'sThe Castle of Otranto, besides other writings of Milton and Lucan. He wrote prolifically, producing his own fiction, poetry, criticism, and tragedies. He also set up aprivate press at his home, where amongst other works (mostly his own), he printed the first editions of some poems by his grandchildren,Dante Gabriel Rossetti andChristina Rossetti. He also printed an edition of the poemOsteologia, which his father Agostino Ansano Polidori had written in 1763.
He retired to a house inHolmer Green,Buckinghamshire in 1836.
His family, the Polidoris, were ofGreek descent.[4] On 29 January 1793,[5] Gaetano Polidori married anEnglish governess, Anna Maria Pierce ofMiddlesex (b. c. 1774[6]), and they had four children. His oldest sonJohn William Polidori was a physician toLord Byron and author of the first vampire story inEnglish,The Vampyre (1819).[7]
His daughterFrances (Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, 27 April 1800 – 8 April 1886[8]) in 1826 married exiled Italian scholarGabriele Rossetti.[9] They had four children,Maria Francesca Rossetti,Dante Gabriel Rossetti,William Michael Rossetti andChristina Georgina Rossetti. After Gabriele's death in 1854, Frances quickly burned the remaining copies of his bookIl Mistero dell' Amor Platonico del Medio Evo. Frances herself died in 1886 and was buried in the family plot atHighgate Cemetery.
Maria (1827–1876), wrote a book aboutDante Alighieri and later became an Anglican nun.[10]
Gabriel Charles Dante (1828–1882) andWilliam Michael (1829–1919) were among the co-founders of thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Francessat for Gabriel for some of his early paintings, for example,The Girlhood of Mary Virgin, in which she modelled forSaint Anne.
Christina Georgina (1830–1894) became famous as a poet and is probably best known as the author of the poemGoblin Market.
...Frances Polidori, daughter of an Italian of Greek descent and an Englishwoman, Anna Maria Pierce
The Polidoris were Italians of Greek descent and were moderately prosperous. They, too, had fled to England during the revolutionary turmoils in Italy.
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