Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa CasatiThe Ultimate Edition

For the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Marchesa Luisa Casati astounded Europe. She was infamous for her evening strolls—naked beneath her furs, parading cheetahs on diamond—studded leashes.

Artists such as Man Ray and Augustus John painted, sculpted, and photographed her; writers, including Jean Cocteau, Ezra Pound, and Jack Kerouac, praised her strange beauty; celebrities and royalty from around the world were amazed and awed by her lavish parties and spectacles at her h...