Imperia La Divina was the first Roman courtesan to achieve celebrity status, but it was her intelligence, charm and confidence which gave her full rise to fame. She would only offer her services to those who could pay large sums of money and also provide "good spirit" - her number one requirement. She was known to stand and pose in her window, charging onlookers to walk down the street and gaze upon her. Many legends surround her death, but her funeral party was the largest party Rome had ever seen, financed by one of her lovers, Agostino Chigi. La Divina is a marble bust of a rose, at once inviting and boundaried, nuanced yet clear, and elegant and powerful.
