|
Oh Sharon, I love this story! Thank you!
That lady was astute. Here's what my book Sargent (Princeton University Press, 1998) has to say about the esteemed Doctor:
The diabolically good-looking Dr. Pozzi (1846-1919) was a figure of glamour and gossip, a favourite physician of the haute bourgeoisie and something of a male coquette, renowned for his vanity and his love affairs. His lovers are reputed to have included the actress Sarah Bernhardt, who called him 'Doctor Dieu', and tantalisingly, if ancecdotally, Madame Gautreau. His medical specialism was gynaecology, which added some frisson to his liaisons, and there are accounts of demonstrations of his practices (he advocated a bi-manual uterine examination) and of a group he formed called 'The League of the Rose', which verge on the decadent. Yet he was a complex and cultivated man, a bibliophile and collector who owned works by Tiepolo and Guardi, collections of Egyptian and classical sculpture, and decorative art.
The parenthetical information is included for the benefit of those who complain that the Forum is becoming very dull.
And here's the portrait:
|