The Isle of Devils (62 page)

CHAPTER XVIII: THE EVIDENCE OF THE ITALIAN PAINTER


        
By careful analysis of Aicardi’s description it appears that he is referring to the painting entitled
Boating
(1874, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) by Édouard Manet (1832–1883). Manet’s
The Suicide
(Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zurich, Switzerland) is believed to have been
completed between 1877 and 1881, though Aicardi’s reference here argues against the latter date. 


        
It is tempting to speculate that Aicardi’s cousin Pietro Goldini may run the very restaurant on Gloucester Road, Kensington where Holmes and Watson meet to plan their assault on the lair of Hugo Oberstein (
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
).


        
In an odd coincidence, Aicardi favored a blood-tinged type of blood manufactured in England by the firm of Brickfall. It is not clear whether, in 1880, Josiah Amberley was yet a junior partner that profitable firm. Amberley eventually retired in 1896 and engaged Holmes to solve the disappearance of his wife (
The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
).


        
Mr. Thaddeus Sholto was very proud of possessing works by both Corot and Bouguereau and he was “partial to the modern French school” (Chapter IV,
The Sign of the Four
). The fact that Professor Moriarty owned a very expensive Greuze painting was one of the most significant clues that he lived outside his lawful means and thus must have had a source of significant supplemental income (Chapter II,
The Valley of Fear
). It is not clear exactly to which Vernet Signore Aicardi refers. There was Claude Joseph Vernet (1714 – 1789), his son Antoine Charles Horace Vernet (1758 – 1835), and his son Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (1789 – 1863), all of whom were painters. The Italian Aicardi’s love of the French school is likely attributable to his time in the
Légion étrangère
. By a very strange coincidence, none other than Sherlock Holmes claims to be descended from one of the Vernets on his mother’s side (
The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
). Watson and Holmes encounter works by Kneller and Reynolds in the dining hall of the Baskervilles (Chapter 13,
The Hound of the Baskervilles
).


        
According to Leslie S. Klinger, Watson intended to appropriate the line: “The artist whose pigments are set out, and who has only to blend them into the expression of his own soul” but deleted it from the final manuscript for unknown reasons (
The Adventure of the Priory School
). Perhaps Holmes complained about him being ‘too romantic?’


        
In many ways, like Signore Aicardi, Holmes could have been considered an artist, though he personally fancied himself a “scientist” of detection. And Holmes certainly had both the eccentric temperament of an artist, as well as sharing their vices of “tobacco, spirits, and stronger stimuli” (i.e. cocaine). Holmes was also an avid devote of singlestick (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet
).


        
It is difficult to reconcile Aicardi’s tale about a serialized novel by Wilkie Collins with the reported dates of the Bermuda Manuscript, since his
The Policeman & the Cook
was not released until 1881. But of course, Aicardi was lying about the nature of his conversation with Sims, so perhaps it is not a true discrepancy. Was it just a coincidence that Aicardi mentioned Beeton's Christmas Annual or Lippincott's Monthly Magazine while discussing the optimal way to publish a story? These represent the first (
A Study in Scarlet
) and second (
The Sign of the Four
) places that Watson directed his first literary agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to publish his early cases with Holmes, and perhaps he got the idea from Aicardi?


        
The ingredients of
aqua tofana
were mostly arsenic and lead and possibly belladonna, but the exact blend has been lost to history. It was a colorless, tasteless liquid and so easily mixed with water or wine to be served during meals. It was mentioned by the
Daily Telegraph
as a possible weapon in the case of the ‘Brixton Mystery’ (Chapter VI,
A Study in Scarlet
).


        
For a translation of “
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle”
see the notes to Chapter XXIII.


        
The Canon provides evidence that Watson was skilled in many languages, but his Italian was limited (
The Final Problem
).


        
Presuming that Aicardi was being honest when he claimed Milano as his home, the constable’s suggestion that he might be involved with either the Mafia (originated from Sicily), or the Ca
r
bonari or Camorra (both begun in Naples) seems to divulge a lack of knowledge about the geopolitical factions of the Italian state. Beppo and Pietro Venucci were connected with the Mafia (
The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
), the
Daily Telegraph
as a possible weapon in the case of the ‘Brixton Mystery’ (Chapter VI,
A Study in Scarlet
), while it is commonly assumed that Giuseppe Gorgiano’s ‘Red Circle’ was a fictitious cover for the ‘Black Hand,’ a also known as the Camorra (
The Adventure of the Red Circle
).

CHAPTER XIX: THE EVIDENCE OF THE SPANISH MARQUESA


        
The Canon is replete with Spanish beauties encountered by Watson and Holmes, including Senora Durando (from the mythical San Pedro;
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
),
Isadora Klein (from Pernambuco, Brazil;
The Adventure of the Three Gables
),
Mrs. Ferguson (Peruvian;
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
), Mrs. Maria Pinto Gibson (from Manáos,
Brazil;
The Problem of Thor Bridge
), and Beryl Garcia Stapleton (from Costa Rica; Chapter XV,
The Hound of the Baskervilles
).


        
Lady Frances Carfax was also left “with limited means, but with some very remarkable old
Spanish
jewelry of silver and curiously-cut diamonds to which she was fondly attached - too attached, for she refused to leave it with her banker and always carried it about with her” (
The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
).


        
Watson does not appear to have easily forgotten his encounter with the Marquesa, for many years later the initial ‘D’ in conjunction with a Spanish lady immediately brings her name to mind (
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
). The following year he met yet another Dolores, who was Mrs. Ferguson’s maid (
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
).


        
The Hotel Escurial in Madrid was the site of the murder of the Marquess of Montalva and Signor Rulli (
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
). Davos Platz was the site of a famous tuberculosis sanatorium. The fictional dying lady that Watson deserts Holmes for at Reichenbach Falls had wintered there (
The Final Problem
).


        
There is the only one other mention of Florida in the Canon as the home of Colonel Elias Openshaw and a hotbed of the KKK (
The Five Orange Pips
).


        
Watson appears to have been inspired by the Marquesa’s habit of gazing upon a military hero for inspiration. In 1888, he had a picture of General Charles George Gordon framed for the sitting room of 221B Baker Street (
The Cardboard Box
). 


        
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746 – 1828) was a Spanish painter during the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. He painted both horrific depictions of war (a series known as
Los Desastres de la Guerra
), and a magnificent portrait of the English hero of the Peninsular War, The Duke of Wellington, now to be found in the National Gallery, London. Presumably the Marquesa possessed a copy of this portrait and not the original Goya. 


        
Watson and Holmes were often skeptical about the existence of the supernatural (
The Sussex Vampire
&
The Hound of the Baskervilles
).


        
Keeping Jimson weed in the house to ward off ghosts was an Aztec practice, which the Marquesa most likely would have learned of only by residing in Mexico!


        
Like Dunkley, Holmes also complained that he had no desire to be part of a
Grimm’s
’ fairy tale (
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
).

CHAPTER XX: THE EVIDENCE OF THE AMERICAN LADY


        
In an odd coincidence, the partners of Lucy’s father would make later appearances in the Canon. Mr. Aloysius Doran had nothing until he struck a rich pocket in 1881 (
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
), while it’s not clear exactly when ex-Senator Neil Gibson, the ‘Gold King,’ made his fortune (
The Problem of Thor Bridge
).