A Word From Renato Reposted From August 16, 2022

"Nobody's perfect.

I confess here Evelyn and myself have three serious flaws, which I list below:

The first is that we don't know how to lie. I'm sure being able to lie is an indispensable gift these days for some in the world which revolves around Rudolph Valentino. But I am not sorry that we do not know how.

The second is that we do not know how to construct fakes of any kind. What we communicate to the world is only and uniquely the result of our research on the truth about Rudolph Valentino and all the documents we present are only genuine testimonies. Not sorry for that!

The third is that we do not know how to hate. We do know how to feel compassion for those who continually denigrate us and attack us because we are an easy target, too easy even if we defend ourselves with our intellectual honesty.

Our compassion for our opponents is enormous and we pity them because they deny what we discover. In this they do nothing but root themselves once more and deeper in their ignorance. Very sorry for that.

I guess we will not be able to achieve the peaks of hate, lying and constructing fakes of those who, without rest, attack us."

Audio Note Posted

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

Minou

A new Substack audio note will post soon....

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/
 

Rambova's "Egyptian Woman"

 In 2017 we published Michael Morris posthumous book, Beyond Valentino – A Madam Valentino Addendum. In the course of my completing his work, it was necessary for me to secure many copyright permissions for images. I contacted the Roerich Foundation in New York in this regard and they were extremely helpful and even contributed additional images for our use. They also put me in touch with the Roerich expert in Moscow, Dr. Vladimir Rosov.

Dr. Rosov is writing a biography of Svetoslav Roerich and plans to include a chapter on Svetoslav's engagement to Natacha Rambova. Michael Morris knew about this three year engagement but did not include it in Madam Valentino on the request of the Roerich Foundation. This was something he sorely regretted.

In 2009, Michael Morris seized the opportunity while delivering his speech at the Convegno Valentino in Turin to amend this issue. He explained why he did not include this in Madam Valentino and how it was his belief Svetoslav Roerich was Natacha Rambova's “great love.”

Dr. Rosov verified the three year engagement and also informed me he had two other portraits painted by Svetoslav of Rambova. He was not ready to share these as I believe he will make them exclusive to his book. He did however share the rare colored sketch by Rambova of “The Egyptian Woman” (see below).

Although dated 1921... this design was the inspiration for an iconic scene in Valentino's movie, Cobra...the scene where the little statue comes to life. This incredible little watercolor had never been published before until we included it in Beyond Valentino.

Curiously Dr. Rosov once interviewed Michael Morris and this entire interview is included in the book. We had the article translated from the Russian and will no doubt do the same with the chapter Dr. Rosov includes in his book on the Svetoslav and Rambova love affair.

“The Egyptian Woman”. Courtesy of Dr. Vladimir Rosov