38 Facts About Janet Ross

Janet Ann Ross was an English historian, biographer, and Tuscan cookbook author.

Janet Ross's father held a number of government positions, including Commissioner of Inland Revenue and her mother wrote the classic Letters from Egypt.

Janet Ross had a brother, Maurice and a sister, Urania.

Janet Ross was the granddaughter of Sarah Austin, a famous translator, and the influential legal philosopher John Austin.

Janet Ross grew up in a highly cultured atmosphere among England's leading intellectual and literary figures.

Janet Ross's memoirs do not reference formal education, aside from mentioning some tutors.

Janet Ross did travel to Paris and Germany for extended periods of time to learn French and German.

Janet Ross makes it clear that she preferred the company of adults and their conversation from a very young age.

Janet Ross remembers her fifth birthday party, sitting on the knee of Thackeray while he drew a sketch on the frontispiece of her copy of his novel Pendennis.

Janet Ross likewise befriended Sir Austen Henry Layard and began an adolescent correspondence with him that continued through her life.

Janet Ross recalls Tennyson telling her that her mother had inspired him to write The Princess.

In 1860 she married a banker, Henry Janet Ross, who was aged 40 to her 18.

Janet Ross befriended Ferdinand de Lesseps who took her on an early tour of the construction of the Suez Canal.

Janet Ross sailed up the Nile to Luxor, toured the temple Medinet Habu, and the Theban temples at Denderah.

Janet Ross made an excursion to the tombs of the Mamluk Sultans.

Henry and Janet Ross eventually moved to Florence, Italy, leaving their only child, Alexander to be educated in England.

In turn, Janet Ross began implementing more modern agricultural methods at the villa especially in the areas of viticulture and cheese-making.

Janet Ross befriended a local sculptor, Carlo Orsi, who resided at Orsi Villa.

Henry encouraged Orsi to do more sketching, and Janet Ross ultimately used him to illustrate many of her books.

Janet Ross responded by placing a copy of the novel, sans covers, in the bathroom for appropriate use.

Janet Ross was a capable businesswoman who managed the estate well and sold its produce at an adequate profit.

Janet Ross imported fortified white wine from Sicily, added sugar and a number of herbs, producing a vermouth that was in considerable demand in England.

Janet Ross claimed the vermouth recipe was a secret one handed down to her by the last of the Medicis.

Janet Ross discovered the painting The School of Pan by Luca Signorelli and later sold it at a substantial profit.

Janet Ross purchased a drawing by early Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto that was a study for his painting Deposition From the Cross.

Janet Ross acquired a painting that Bernard Berenson identified as being Madonna and Child by the Renaissance painter Alesso Baldovinetti.

Janet Ross used to drop in at all hours declaring that Poggio Gherardo was the nearest way to anywhere.

Twain arranged shipment of watermelon seeds and maize seeds to Janet Ross, claiming that there was no corn to be found in all of Italy.

Janet Ross helped art historian and writer Bernard Berenson find and purchase a neighbouring villa, I Tatti.

Janet Ross wrote for literary journals, including Fraser's Magazine, Macmillan's Magazine, Longman's Magazine, Cosmopolis: A Literary Review, Temple Bar, and Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly.

Janet Ross's publishers encouraged her to select and publish some of her previous writings as Italian Sketches, which became a big success.

Janet Ross followed that book with Early Days Recalled, and her memoir Three Generations of English Women, which dealt with her grandmother and mother, as well as her great-grandmother, Susannah Cook Taylor.

Janet Ross wrote the classic cookbook Leaves from Our Tuscan Kitchen, or, How to Cook Vegetables, which is a collection of recipes supplied by the Rosses' chef, Guiseppi Volpi, at Poggio Gherardo.

Janet Ross wrote Florentine Villas and other books related to Italy, Florence and Tuscany, including: Terra De Manfredi ; Florentine Palaces And Their Stories ; Lives Of The Early Medici As Told In Their Correspondence ; The Story Of Pisa; and The Story Of Lucca.

In 1912 Janet Ross published her autobiographical memoir The Fourth Generation.

Janet Ross was cremated and buried in the Florence City Cemetery.

Janet Ross originally had intended to leave her villa to her son.

Janet Ross briefly tried to restore the villa; however, after her son's death, she sold it to a developer in 1952.