Painting in Casanova’s Paris

Abstract Although Casanova’s memoirs appear to tell the story of his erotic adventures, this article argues that Part 3 Chapter 13 of the Histoire de ma vie is organized around an interrogation of esthetics. Specifically, in the last chapter recounting his first stay in Paris, Casanova evokes different paintings and painters to develop his own ideas on representation. In explaining his relationship to portraits of Louise O’Murphy (a mistress of Louis XV) and the duchesse de Chartres as well as to the painters Sanson and Francesco Casanova (a brother of the author), the writer questions the painter’s goal of producing a realistic representation. Valuing paintings not only for their truth but also for their beauty, Casanova at the same time redefines the aims of writing, offering the reader a way to appreciate his autobiography less as an accurate relation of his life but as an artistic creation.