Sveva
Caetani’s Recapitulation Series: From Medieval Mysticism to the Space Age, by
Adriana A. Davies
A review of
a friend’s book, by Peter McKenzie-Brown
I am a retired Calgary-based writer. One of my projects was titled the Oil Sands
Oral History Project, which included other Alberta writers. To prepare the
history, we took on the job of interviewing people who were heavily involved in
the oil sands business.
We knew the interviews should
include input from the Edmonton and other northern regions where many prominent
individuals from industry resided and whose input to the project was crucial.
My colleague, Bob Bott, introduced me to Adriana Davies, who lives in Edmonton.
That was the beginning of a wonderful
professional and personal relationship. I was then and remain ne amazed at Adriana’s
intellect and her amazing ability to do research. She leaves no stone unturned
as she finds gems of information about history. Born in Italy and fluent in
Italian (et le français, d’accord), she has a remarkable academic background
and has published widely.
My wife gave me a copy of Adriana’s
latest book for my birthday last year, and it has a prominent place in the bookcase
in our living room. More than 400 8 1/2x11 inch pages in length, it’s a
tremendous read – a read that sometimes challenged me.
The background: This substantial volume talks about the illegitimate
daughter of Leone Caetani, Duke of Sermoneta and Prince of Teano, and his
mistress Ofelia. Her name was Sveva Ersilia Giovanella Maria Fabiani Caetani di
Sermoneta. Born in Rome on August 6, 1917, she died in Vernon, BC on April 27,
1994. These two locations were the poles of her physical existence but the
universe – past, present, and future – was the inspiration for her art.
To legitimize her and evade
Mussolini and the rise of fascism, Leone’s family moved via the UK to Canada in
1921, eventually settling in Vernon, British Columbia. Leone died in 1935;
sadly, this left Sveva the “prisoner” of her mentally ill mother, who greatly
restricted her ability to associate with other people. After her mother died in
1960, Sveva obtained teaching qualifications. While teaching dominated her days,
she dedicated her evenings to artistry. She had demonstrated artistic talent since
childhood.
Her father, Leone Caetani, who
was born September 12, 1869, was the Prince of Teano and Duke of Sermoneta, and
his lineage went back to Medieval popes who built the family’s fortunes (in
1294 Benedetto Caetani was elected Pope and took the name Boniface VIII). The
family also included many scholars not only of the past of the Roman Empire but
also of the world’s languages, Islamic and other religious studies, science and
engineering.
Her father Leone had completed a
degree in Ancient and Oriental Languages and History at the University of Rome
in 1891, As a post-graduation adventure, he travelled to BC’s Selkirk mountains
with a friend, to hunt bears. Her mother, the duke’s young mistress Ofelia
Fabiani, was the daughter of a Roman engineer and a nightclub performer.
Leone’s foray into politics as a socialist won him no friends in the
aristocratic world and, as Mussolini came to power, made him an enemy of the
state.
To avoid negative repercussions
resulting from his socialist political stance, and to protect his young
daughter and mistress from the criticism of Catholic society (he could not
divorce his wife Vittoria Colonna), Leone moved the family to Vernon, BC, in
1921. There he purchased a large home on Pleasant Valley Road as well as an
orchard and woodlot. Although Leone succeeded to the dukedom in 1916 on his
father Onorato’s death, his brother Gelasio took on the responsibilities of
running the family. There he began a new life focused on his wife and daughter,
and luxuriating in the wilderness. He did, however, continue his scholarly
studies of Islam and published the final volumes of his 10-volume series, The
Annals of Islam.
While Leone and Sveva loved the
natural surroundings of Vernon, Ofelia, who had brought many trunks full of
Paris fashions, never adjusted to life in BC. The family travelled regularly to
Europe to visit relatives in France and Italy, but this ended in 1931, after
the stock market crash that nullified Leone’s investment income. His death of
throat cancer on December 25, 1935, in a Vancouver hospital doomed Ofelia to a
life deprived of her beloved companion and their extravagant lifestyle that she
had expected when she had married him in 1916.
Ofelia sank into depression and
compulsive behaviours and prevented Sveva from associating with other children.
She had been educated by governesses and her only formal schooling was from
1930 to 1932 at Crofton House private school in Vancouver. In effect, Ofelia
kept her prisoner in their Pleasant Valley Road home. The only other occupant
was Miss Jüūl, secretary, friend and general assistant.
Ofelia prevented Sveva from
drawing, which was a favourite pastime (she had drawing lessons in Paris and
Monte Carlo in 1930 and demonstrated a real aptitude). She was not forbidden to
read, fortunately, and was a bookworm. Sveva, thus, grew up in a world of
literary works not only European, British, and American but also works in
comparative religion, studies of Western civilization, as well as of the
history and traditions of the Near and Far East. She was an individual well
beyond the norm.
Ofelia’s death in 1960 was
shocking for Sveva – the will revealed that her parents had never been married
and that she was, therefore, illegitimate. She also discovered that her father
had formally adopted her before he obtained his Canadian citizenship (1928) and
left her the family home in Vernon. Any monies and the house he had built for
Ofelia in Rome were Ofelia’s property and she had made a bequest to the Roman
Catholic Church. Sveva was, thus, at the age of 43, left without money and
without a way to earn a living. Through a friend, Vanessa Alexander, she sold
some of her mother’s designer clothes for immediate cash and, fortunately, she
was given a job in 1964 at St. James Catholic School as a teacher of French,
history, and other subjects. It was founded in 1956 by Monsignor John Miles,
who had served as the parish priest from 1944 to 1971 and had been Ofelia’s
spiritual advisor. The Sisters of St. Ann staffed the school.
At St. James, Sveva developed a
passion for both teaching and children, earned her high school diploma (1969
Adult Institute in Victoria) and took teacher training at the University of
Victoria (1970-1972). But art remained her major interest. At this time, she
made many close friends, learned to drive and other normal activities that her mother
had banned.
One of her young art professors,
John Cawood, advised her to return to painting and she began to do this on her
return to Vernon. In 1972, she obtained a job at Charles Bloom Secondary School
in Lumby as an art teacher and purchased a small house in the community. She
began to paint regularly; her subjects ranged from fantasy works to Greco-Roman
mythology. In 1975, she began to create a series of paintings that would become
the Recapitulation series. She returned to the family home and set up a studio.
Because of her scholarly sensibility, she began to read works that would serve
as guideposts in what became a journey of self-discovery.
Adriana describes this book as
her magnum opus, and by any standard I can that is so. That said, Chapters
5 through 8 are extraordinary in their use of reproductions of her art to
illustrate the pages. Get a copy. This book is fantabulous.
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