A CHORUS AT THE CLOISTER

Previously unknown watercolor by Faun Roberts provisionally dated 1918 - 1920

Following the steep Apennine escarpments to Romagna, slowly finding my way to the coastal town of Balleria I inadvertently turned a quiet vacation into a caffeinated vigil at the municipal archives.

I can't seem to get away from Faun Roberts.

With rising remorse, I left my boyfriend behind as soon as I realized that Faun Roberts had spent considerable time after World War I in a sanatorium in San Mauro Pascoli. It's funny how coincidence is cousin to fate.

I had packed a light bag for a long weekend of intimacy - a bathing suit, a few t-shirts, a few toiletries and a two historical novels by Antonio Spurcus - and with the best intentions set out to put my work behind me. 

Fortunately destiny delivered a rapturous surprise.

On page 606 of Spurcus's underrated opus "Downsized Phials of Morphine," there is a short aside, referencing "the trifling scribbles of Faun Roberts ... small amusements from her Adriatic confinement."

What "Adriatic confinement" was he talking about!? I had no idea whether this was based on fact or was a novelistic invention, but I was determined to find out.

The long weekend turned into three months and the boyfriend turned into the ex-boyfriend but through the shears of academic detective work I found the Holy Grail.

The details will appear in my book but suffice it to say, I found over 200 gorgeous watercolors that have eluded collectors and historians for close to 100 years!