Édouard Viénot L. D. R..." and "Portrait de Monsieur A. L..." (both at the Paris Salon 1870). Viénot also painted Marie Duplessis (reproduced in the Royal Opera's programme for Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Royal Albert Hall in May 1998). Marie Duplessis was the real-life actress and courtesane on whom Dumas modelled the heroine in "La Dame aux Camélias", on which "La Traviata" is based. Viénot's portrait of the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil is in the Imperial Museum in Brazil (housed in what was formerly his summer palace). Also in Brazil is his "Retrato de Menina" [a portrait of a young
Giuseppe Verdi melody of the Duke's song "La donna è mobile" ("Woman is fickle") would become a popular hit, Verdi excluded it from orchestral rehearsals for the opera, and rehearsed the tenor separately. For several months Verdi was preoccupied with family matters. These stemmed from the way in which the citizens of Busseto were treating Giuseppina Strepponi, with whom he was living openly in an unmarried relationship. She was shunned in the town and at church, and while Verdi appeared indifferent, she was certainly not. Furthermore, Verdi was concerned about the administration of his newly acquired property at Sant'Agata. A growing estrangement