The Watercolourist (47 page)

A woman of flowers, Bianca is devoted to her ephemeral subjects, but she is neither ephemeral nor frivolous. She is deeply committed to her work, and to the occupation we all share: the building
of self-awareness. Finding one’s place in the world. Discovering one’s purpose. She is not a solitary soul lost on the moors, nor a porcelain doll nodding and smiling in a drawing room
while waiting to be whisked away by a decent husband. Half English by blood, she is Italian,
Italianissima
: passionate, chaotic and dynamic. A truly romantic girl for a romantic novel.

I must say I took some liberties in weaving all these stories together. It is not likely (though not impossible) that a lady of the Milanese bourgeoisie of the early 1800s would have personally
taken her illegitimate child to a centre for public assistance. She would probably have used a go-between such as a midwife, trusted servant or priest. It is even more likely that she would have
had the child raised by other family members or individuals close to the family, and would have supervised the child’s development from a distance. But Pia needed to be a girl of non-humble
origins who had been entrusted to public care. This led to some slight stretching of the customary habits regarding abandonment at the Ospedale Maggiore, a sad but powerful institution that
alleviated many family hardships in the Milan of the past. Minna’s story is more typical: she was first entrusted to a wet nurse and then sent to a family in the country to be raised until
her own family had the means to retrieve her.

I admit I made some deliberate ‘mistakes’. The names of the ballerinas at La Scala who affected Bernocchi so deeply are all invented. Some types of flowers and plants I mention were
not yet known in that period of history, at least not in the form described, and derive from later grafts and cultivations. The regular flower trade along the coast of Liguria only began in the
middle of the nineteenth century.

And finally, the kidnappings. ‘What good are kisses if they are not given?’ is a line from a poem by Vivian Lamarque. Other citations are more or less obvious: Homer, Ronsard,
Shelley, Prévert, Grossi, Foscolo, Mallarmé, Auden, Tagore, Neruda, Barrie, Meneghello. Don Titta’s poems are entirely his own creation.

Ten years is a long time, but it flew by, as time tends to do. Writers of historical fiction need to take breaks for research, need to deviate from the path now and then. And I enjoyed my
detours so much. Writing-time is different from clock-time, anyway. When we write, it is as if time becomes a place. It is that house in the country where you wish you could live but cannot; each
time you return there, you have to open the windows to air out the rooms; it is an orderly, empty space you would like to complicate with your dearest clutter. Then, once you are settled, you never
want to leave. It’s where you want to be. When you’re there, filled with the lives of others, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. Nor you could.

January 2016, Milan

B
EATRICE
M
ASINI
was born in Milan. She is a well-known and successful writer of books for children and teenagers, translated into
over twenty languages. She works as an editor for an Italian publisher and has translated many books for both children and adults.
The Watercolourist
won the Premio Selezione Campiello
prize and the Premio Alessandro Manzoni award for best historical novel.

First published 2016 by Mantle

This electronic edition published 2016 by Mantle
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-4472-5773-8

Copyright © Beatrice Masini 2013
Translation copyright © Clarissa Ghelli and Oonagh Stransky 2016

Cover images © Getty Images/Maremagnum
Author photograph © Emma Cappa

The right of Beatrice Masini to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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