Iris Origo

Origins and upbringing

Origo was born at Beechwood Cottage, Birdlip, Gloucestershire, England, the granddaughter of William Bayard Cutting, her mother Lady Sybil Cuffe (daughter of Lord Desart, an Irish peer) having married the diplomat eldest son (also named William Bayard Cutting) of the rich and philanthropic New York family. Her parents travelled widely after their marriage, particularly in Italy, where her father contracted tuberculosis and died in 1910. Iris and her mother settled in Italy, buying the Villa Medici in Fiesole, one of Florence's most spectacular villas. There they formed a close friendship with Bernard Berenson, who lived not far away at I Tatti. Iris was briefly enrolled at school in London, but was largely educated at home, by Professor Solone Monti and by a series of French and German governesses.

In April 1918 her mother, Lady Sybil Cutting, married the architectural historian Geoffrey Scott. She divorced him in 1926 and took a third husband, the essayist Percy Lubbock.

Personal life

Iris Cutting travelled to England and the United States in order to be launched in the society of both countries. In 1922, she first met Colin Mackenzie, a young Scottish businessman working in Milan; a romantic correspondence was followed by a passionate affair. On 4 March 1924, Iris married Antonio Origo, an illegitimate son of Marchese Clemente Origo. They moved to their purchased 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) estate, La Foce, near Chianciano Terme in the Province of Siena. It was in an advanced state of disrepair, but by dint of hard work, care and attention, they managed to transform it. Their son, Gian or Gianni Clemente Bayard (24 June 1925 – 30 April 1933), died of meningitis at the age of seven. They also had two daughters, Benedetta (born 1 August 1940) and Donata (born 9 June 1943).

Writing career

After the death of her son, Gianni, Iris Origo embarked on a writing career, with a well-received biography of Giacomo Leopardi, published in 1935. A reviewer notated that "an unobtrusive scholarship gives alimentation to a deft power in narrative, and the style is always alive and sometimes very beautiful." She followed this in 1938 with a biography of Cola di Rienzo, a 14th-century populist revolutionary and would-be dictator in Rome. Her 1957 book The Merchant of Prato is an invaluable source for students of Italian city and mercantile life, based on extensive research in the archives of merchant Francesco di Marco Datini (1335–1410). She also cast light on a little-known facet of medieval and early Italian life in her article "The Domestic Enemy: the Eastern Slaves in Tuscany in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries".

During the Second World War, the Origos remained at La Foce and looked after refugee children, who were housed there. Following the surrender of Italy, Iris Origo also sheltered or assisted many escaped Allied prisoners of war, who were trying to cross the German lines, or simply to survive. Her account of this time, War in Val d'Orcia, was the first of her books to be a popular, as well as a critical, success.

After the war, she divided her time between La Foce and Rome, where the Origos had bought an apartment in the Palazzo Orsini, and devoted herself to writing. The Origos also holidayed at Gli Scafari, the house built by the architect Cecil Pinsent for Iris's mother at Lerici on the Gulf of Spezia. Antonio Origo died on 27 June 1976. Iris Origo died at her estate in Tuscany on 28 June 1988, aged 85.

Honours

Iris Origo was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1967. On 31 December 1976 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) "for services to British cultural interests in Italy and to Anglo-Italian relations".

Legacy

Every year, in July, a music festival is held at La Foce in her memory. This is organised by her grandson, the cellist Antonio Lysy, and has been held since 1989, the year after her death.

Works