Historical Inspiration

The inspiration for The Wicked Baron began after I visited West Wycombe, a beautiful Italianate Villa in Buckinghamshire. 

The house was once the home of the notorious Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the Hellfire Club, but for once I was not interested in this real life rake, it was the house that impressed me.  It was refurbished in the eighteenth century and the main entrance was given an impressive portico, complete with statues and soaring pillars. The whole building was painted with bright, lively scenes of classical themes and even the ceiling of the portico was decorated with frescoes. My imagination began to work on a new story.   What if the heroine's father was the Italian artist who painted this house – what if the heroine was an artist?  

I visualised the scene – pretty little Carlotta dressed in breeches and a shirt, perched on top of the scaffolding in the entrance, working away at a ceiling fresco.  Our hero comes along and finds her. Of course the story would be very short if they fell in love there and then with no further problems – they must have some conflict to keep them apart, so I send my star-crossed lovers to London, bring in a little danger in the form of a dastardly villain who wants to kill Carlotta's father and hey presto – another adventure romance. 

Italian painters were very fashionable in the early 19th century, and many were employed to decorate English country houses.  Fresco painting is a way of applying the pigments to wet plaster to produce a very stable and long-lasting colour – perfect for ceilings. So I decided that Carlotta should paint part of the portico ceiling fresco.  But then I had to make sure that she was alone when Luke first sees her.  Well, a little more research showed me that not all painters were surrounded by minions while they worked – I discovered that even Michelangelo often painted alone.  So the scene was set for Carlotta's first encounter with Luke Ainslowe, the Wicked Baron himself.   West Wycombe is perfect as the model for Malberry Court, where much of the story takes place: I could imagine Luke persuading Carlotta to join him for a picnic on the lawns that stretch down to the lake – very romantic! 

There is a fascinating post script to this story: Carlotta's father adds a small, decorative snail onto each of his paintings as his "signature" and this symbol is integral to the plot.  Imagine my surprise and delight when, shortly after submitting the Wicked Baron, I learned that a colony of Italian snails had been discovered at Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire, not a million miles away from where I had set Malberry Court!  It is believed that these snails hitched a ride with the Italian marble balustrade that was shipped to England in 1896 by Lord Astor and still decorates the gardens. 

And, there's more - the balustrade itself is thought to date from around 1816, the year the Wicked Baron returned to England!  I can easily imagine Carlotta's father using this beautiful little snail as his "signature", can't you? 

Sarah Mallory