- Date:
- 1915
- Original Format:
- Photographic Print
- Item#:
- MES14330
Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944)
Lina Cavalieri was an Italian operatic soprano. After a childhood as an orphaned streetsinger, she debuted in 1900 in Lisbon. Cavalieri was popular throughout the U.S. and Europe, performing both French and Italian roles. Cavalieri performed with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York (1906-08) and Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company (1909-10). Dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world, she enjoyed many tempestuous marriages and relationships, including an affair with Mussolini. Transforming her beauty into business, she managed her cosmetic salons in Paris and published "My Secrets of Beauty." The soprano then turned to Hollywood, making four silent films with Paramount between 1914 and 1919. The artist's final role was as a nurse during WWII. She died in an air raid outside of Florence.