Social Victorians/People/Casa de Valencia

Also Known As

• Family name: Count Casa de Valencia
• Casa Valencia
• His Excellency Count de Casa Valencia, Ambassador to the Court of St. James
• Señor Conde de Casa Valencia Exemo

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Friends

• a Cardinal Vaughan

Organizations

• Spanish Ambassador to St. James's Court (1895–)

Lady ('Dona') Ana, Countess of Casa Valencia in costume as Nuit d'Espagne. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Timeline

1897 July 2, Friday, the Countess and Ambassador Casa de Valencia attended the Duchess of Devonshire's Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

At the Duchess of Devonshire’s 1897 Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Ana, Countess Casa de Valencia (at 148) sat at Table 3 in the first seating for supper. The Count (at 183) sat at Table 8 in the first seating.

Alexander Bassano's portrait of Lady ('Dona') Ana, Countess of Casa Valencia as Nuit d'Espagne in costume is photogravure #32 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "The Countess of Casa Valencia as Nuit d'Espagne," with a Long S in Countess.

The fact that her costume is described in French rather than Spanish seems meaningful. In 1872, Jules Massenet set Louis Gallet's poem "Nuit d'Espagne" to music. The song was performed in concerts in London and Europe in the 1890s. The Globe, for example, reported on a "charming" performance in Steinway Hall on Tuesday, 25 May 1897.

Demographics

• Nationality: Spanish

Residences

• 1 Grosvenor Gardens, S.W., London (1895–1897+?), site of the embassy?

Family

• Conde, Count Casa de Valencia ()
• Ana, Countess Casa de Valencia ()
  • 5 children: 2 daughters and 3 sons
  • Mlle

Questions and Notes

1. "His Excellency, I may say, is the fourth Ambassador to our Court since the Spanish Embassy was re-established: the first was Don José Luis Albareda, the second the Marquis de Casa Laiglesia, and the third Don Cipriano del Mazo. Long years ago, when Lord Palmerston was Premier, the Count first came to London as Secretary to the Spanish Legation. Don Javier Isturiz was then Minister — an old and cautious diplomat."
2. "His Excellency, who married Mlle. de Osma, daughter of the Marquis de la Puente y de Soto-Major, a Grandee of Spain, and is the further of five children, two daughters and three boys, has made a delightful home in London."
3. The drawing-room in the apartments where the de Casa Valencias lived had portraits of the 2 daughters painted by Vaamonde.
4. "The Countess de Casa Valencia is a charming painter, and I saw one or two pretty examples of her skill."