Casanova Was More Than a Good Lover

The Infamous Seducer Wasn’t Merely After Conquest. He Chased Intelligent Conversation and Passionate Affairs to Remember.

He first saw Henriette when she was travelling with an army officer and disguised as a man, though everyone could tell that she was a beautiful woman. His love grew stronger when he saw her in a dress, and when he learned that she was a spirited, cultivated, and intelligent lady. He bought her clothes and jewelry. He cried with pride when she surprised him by masterfully playing the cello in front of connoisseurs. They spent three heavenly months together; “never,” he wrote, did even “a folded rose petal come …