A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Albrizzi, Teotochi Isabella
ALBRIZZI, TEOTOCHI ISABELLA.
This lady, of much celebrity for her talents, was born on the Island of Corfu, about 1760, of one of the most illustrious families of that island. Her father, count Spindosi Teotochi, was for many years president of the senate of the Ionian islands. At a very early age, Isabella was married to Carlo Marino, a Venetian nobleman, whom she accompanied to Italy, which country she never left again during her life.
Marino was a man of letters, and the author of a history of Venetian commerce; it was his society and guidance which determined the literary bent of her mind, and gave the first impetus to her studious habits; but his existence was prematurely terminated, and her subsequent union with the count Albrizzi placed her in a situation where her talents and tastes obtained complete development. Her house at Venice became the resort of all the noted characters resident in Italy, or visiting its storied laud. Lord Byron, Cuvier, Canova, Denon, Foscolo, and Humboldt, were the habitués of her saloon. Byron called her the Venetian De Stael. She possesssed that fine tact that belongs to a feeling heart, combined with the courtesy which a life passed in good society bestows. It was observed, that amid the concourse of strangers, artists, authors, and notable persons of every sort and nation—and even Chinese have been seen at her conversazione—nobody, however obscure, was ever neglected; nobody left her house without an agreeable impression. She has written one very interesting work, "Life of Vittoria Colonna," in which simplicity and elegance are remarkably combined. A little work, in which she has defended the "Mirza of Alfieri," against the attacks of a celebrated critic, has been highly praised. The "Portraits of Celebrated Contemporaries," from the subject, the author, and its intrinsic merits became justly popular. "The Observations upon the works of Canova," a book inspired by friendship, manifests a judicious taste for the arts; is full of instruction for strangers, and interest for philosophic and poetic minds. She died at Venice in 1835.
As a mother, her devotion was complete and her intelligence admirable. She gave unwearied pains to the moral and intellectual education of her children, and administered their property with consummate ability. Nor did these loving cares go unrewarded; she had the happiness of possessing in her sons, tender and congenial friends, in seeking them partake with her, the general esteem and in her last painful malady, their assiduity and filial affection softened the pangs of death, and smoothed her passage to the tomb.