(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Doctor Claudius: A True Story

author F. Marion Crawford (Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 1854 - 1909, Sorrento, Italy)

Date1883

Place MadeUnited States, North America

MediumInk on paper

ClassificationsManuscripts

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberARC.006101

eMuseum ID724258

Other NumberU3s382

EmbARK ObjectID31987

Previous NumberU10.t.3

TMS Source ID15561

Last Updated8/9/24

Status

Not on view

Web Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner and the novelist F. Marion Crawford bonded over a love of the Italian poet Dante. Their close relationship inspired rumors of an affair. It is impossible to know whether or not the two had a physical affair, but the surviving traces of their mutual admiration have romantic undertones.

In the summer of 1882, Crawford spent time at the Gardner family vacation home in Prides Crossing on Massachusetts' north shore at Isabella's invitation. During this stay, he wrote his second novel, Doctor Claudius. Central to the book's plot is a romantic relationship between a young professor and an older American woman. Isabella displayed the handwritten manuscript of the book in the Crawford/Chapman Case.

BibliographyNotesDiana Seave Greenwald, "Did They or Didn't They? F. Marion Crawford and Isabella Stewart Gardner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 March 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/f-marion-crawford-and-isabella-stewart-gardner

MarksNotesInscribed in ink (center): Doctor Claudius, / A true story. / By F. Marion Crawford. / Author of Mr. Isaacs. / Dedicated to my dear friends / The Countess Margaret and Claudius Ph. D.
Inscribed in ink (lower left): NB to printer / Please print the dedication / on fly leaf when this appears in book form

ProvenanceNotesProbably a gift from the novelist, F. Marion Crawford to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1883.