A Nineteenth-Century Countess’s Sultry Selfies
The New Yorker
by Anika BurgessMarch 7, 2026
Anika Burgess considers photographic portraits featuring—and often conceived by—the nineteenth-century Italian noblewoman Virginia Oldoini Verasis, who had an affair with the French Emperor Napoleon III and was known as a great beauty in Paris.
Verticals
culturenews
Originally published on The New Yorker on 3/7/2026