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CAETANI, Sveva
- Born
- Rome, Italy, 1917
- Died
- Vernon, B.C., 1994
- Biography synopsis
- Sveva Caetani arrived in Vernon, BC, in 1921 with father Leone Caetani, Duke of Sermoneta and Prince of Teano, and mother Ofelia. In 1929-1930, she studied art at L’Académie Ranson in Paris for six months, and was tutored by André Petroff in Monte Carlo. Her father’s death, in 1935, resulted in her mother’s seclusion in the family home, and Sveva was not allowed to have friends or pursue her art, though she was allowed to read works of world literature. Her mother’s death in 1960 freed her to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. She completed her education at the University of Victoria and taught art in the school system until 1983. From 1978-1989 she worked on the Recapitulation series, which she described as a “mind journey” and which totalled 56 large, vivid watercolour paintings using a dry brush technique that she developed. Her work was figurative and outside of the norm of art being created at the time in Canada. Recapitulation was inspired by Dante’s journey in the Divine Comedy through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise led by a “spirit” guide; Sveva’s journey, led by her father, through remembrances of her personal and societal history culminates with her envisioned death. Sveva references various paths to enlightenment including Judeo/Christian/Muslim mysticism as well as those depicted in myth and fantasy genres. She conceptualized the works and wrote text in prose and poetry to illuminate them. In 1987, the series was gifted to the Alberta Art Foundation and selected works were exhibited in Alberta, BC and Ontario. Sveva gifted her home and gardens to Greater Vernon; in 2008, the Caetani Cultural Centre Society was established to manage the site as a living history museum, gallery and artist-in-residence venue. In 1995, Caetani Recapitulation A Journey, was published with Heidi Thompson serving as publisher and principal editor. In 2021, the Recapitulation series was repatriated from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. (Adriana Davies)
- Media used
- Watercolour
- Education
- Académie Ranson, Paris
- University of Victoria, Art Teacher Education
- Memberships
- Vernon Art Association, Vernon, British Columbia
- File & Archive locations
- Hamilton Public Library, ON - Local History and Archives Department
- University of Calgary Library, AB
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
- Alberta Foundation for the Arts, AB
- Caetani Cultural Centre, Vernon, BC.
- Greater Vernon Museum & Archives
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Caetani, Sveva." The British Columbia Archival Information Network 2024
http://www.memorybc.ca/caetani-sveva - Alberta Foundation for the Arts. “Recapitulation: A Journey” Exhibit, 7." Alberta Foundation for the Arts Annual Report, 1992-1993. Edmonton: Alberta Foundation for the Arts, 1993
- Avery, Karen. The Elusive Self: Storytelling and the Journey to Identity in Sveva Caetani’s Autobiographical Series “Recapitulation.” Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria, Master's Thesis, 2000.
http://dspace.library.uvic.ca/items/fa3f1497-9f20-442c-89e9-98717e0da4fe - Avery, Karen. "Caetani Family Chronology." Caetani di Sermonetta An Italian Family in Vernon, 1921-1994, Catherine Harding, ed. Vernon, B.C.: Greater Vernon Museum and Archives/Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2003: 77-79
- Avery, Karen. “Release and Rebirth: Sveva Caetani in Later Life, ca. 1960-1994.” Caetani di Sermonetta An Italian Family in Vernon, 1921-1994, Catherine Harding, ed. Vernon, B.C.: Greater Vernon Museum and Archives/Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2003:25-32
- Avery, Karen. “The Caetani Family: Popes, Princes, Scholars and Artists.” Caetani di Sermonetta An Italian Family in Vernon, 1921-1994, Catherine Harding, ed. Vernon, B.C.: Greater Vernon Museum and Archives/Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2003: 5-9
- Caetani, Sveva. “Leone Caetani: World Traveller Who Came to Vernon.” B.C. Historical News (Winter 1993-1994): 29-31
- Chambers, Ruth, and Jan Gattrell.. “Sveva Caetani: A Fairy Tale Life.” Okanagan History Vignettes: Readings for Adult Literary Students. Kelowna, B.C.: Okanagan University College, Adult Literary Department, 2001
http://www.en.copian.ca/library/learning/okanagan/history/7sveva.pdf - Davies, Adriana A. “Sveva Caetani’s Recapitulation Series: From Medieval Mysticism to the Space Age.” The British Columbia Review June 17, 2024
http://thebcreview.ca/2024/06/17/2201-caetani-davies/ - Davies, David Twiston, ed. "Sveva Caetani." Canada from Afar: The Daily Telegraph Book of Canadian Obituaries, 381-382. Toronto & Oxford: Dundurn Press, 1996: 381-382
http://zoboko.com/text/x5onmxed/canada-from-afar-the-daily-telegraph-book-of-canadian-obituaries/83 - DeGrace, Anne. “Divine Comedy the paintings of Sveva Caetani.” Inland (Winter 1999/2000): 9
- Dewing, Lynn. “Not even her Psychic Mother could penetrate Sveva’s World.” Okanagan Life (July/Aug 2006): 38-41.
- Graham, Archie. “Beyond the Garden Gate: The Paintings of Sveva Caetani,” North Shore News 4 Dec. 1991: 24, 38
- Harding, Catherine, Ed.. Caetani di Sermoneta: An Italian Family in Vernon, 1921-1994. Vernon, B.C.: Greater Vernon Museum and Archives, 2003
- MacDonald, Cara.. “Caetani Family History goes on Display: University Students help bring Caetani – Visions of Rebirth to Life for a Joint Exhibit Opening Thursday.” Vernon Morning Star 24 Aug 2003
- Marlatt, Daphne.. Reading Sveva. Vancouver, B.C.: Talon Books, 2016
- McHardy, Carolyn W.. “Recapitulation: A Journey.” Woman’s Art Journal 18.2 (1997): 58.
- Milligan, Sarah and Carla Yarish. “A Remarkable Legacy: Drawings for Recapitulation.” Caetani di Sermonetta An Italian Family in Vernon, 1921-1994, Catherine Harding, ed. Vernon, B.C.: Greater Vernon Museum and Archives/Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2003: 33-48
- Rosnau, Laisha.. Little Fortress. Hamilton, ON: Bucrider Books, 2019
- Vitelli, Pietro. “The Fascinating Mystery of the Great Artist Sveva Caetani.” Marco Polo newspaper, April 12, 2021. S 12 Apr 2021
http://ilmarcopolo.com/the-fascinating-mystery-of-the-great-artist-sveva-caetani/ - Vitelli, Pietro.. Sveva Caetani di Sermonetta e Dante Alighieri. Latina, Italy: Atlantide Editore, 2023
- Vitelli, Pietro.. Sveva Caetani, Il Viaggio nell’anima dell’ultima dei Caetani di Sermoneta. Rome, Italy: Roffredo Caetani, 2020
- Wills, Linda. “Recapitulation . . . an Unusual Life Journey told through Art.” Okanagan History. Sixtieth Report of the Okanagan Historical Society. 1996: 196-197
- Zampieri, Anna M. Pan. “Caetani Recapitulation.” Il Congresso 30 Oct. 1995
- Zuk, Bill and R. Dalton. “Flight of the Imagination: Sveva Caetani’s Rich Metaphorical Work contributes Unique Canadian Imagery across Several Art Movements.” British Columbia Art Teachers’ Association 42.1 (Winter 2002): 2-7
Writings by- Caetani, Sveva. Recapitulation A Journey. Edited by Heidi Thompson, Heidi et al. Vernon, B.C.: Coldstream Books, 1995
