Do you know the Italian photographer Penati? He sort of floated into our lives like a strange cloud....
An Italian friend told me the most marvelous story about Penati. Apparently, everyone in Turin, in Milan, was crazy about his photographs of children. Once, he was asked by a very social Milanese family to photograph their children....
Penati said, "All right; if you want me to photograph your children, I've got to be totally and completely alone with them."
The family protested. They said, "Somebody must be there. The phone will ring; there will be parcels dropped off from the market. And, after all, we have to eat."
He said, "No, it's impossible. If people are going to be around, I can't photograph the children."
They said, "Well, you've got to make one exception. We insist that the governess stay. We absolutely insist!"
So he said, "All right, I'll come in at nine in the morning, and no one else is to come in until five."
So the family and household went out then...They finally returned about half past five. Quiet. Quiet as anything. They pushed open the door. All the children were sitting on the floor eating huge bowls, like basins, of ice cream, and there were cakes everywhere. And the governess was completely nude on the sofa being photographed by Penati!
--Diana Vreeland in D.V. (1984) with George Plimpton
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