Olga Rudge & Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well..."

265 Olga Triumphant
that we may put an end to this episode . . . particularly distasteful because
of your gossip, which reaches me from all quarters.’’
Olga sent Gardner a check, but her friendship with Fitzgerald was
damaged beyond repair. To a later observer, the entire a√air may seem
pointless, but to Olga’s eyes it damaged her reputation among the closeknit
circle of Anglo-American expatriates in Venice. Christina Thoresby,
the organist at the English church and one of Peggy Guggenheim’s oldest
friends, was mentioned by some as the source of the gossip about the bed.
Living in the heart of Venice with its gossip and intrigue was claustrophobic
for Olga, who agreed with Rose Lauritzen, a Belfast-born resident,
that Venice was ‘‘like a gossipy Irish village.’’ Rose and her husband,
Peter, the American art critic whose pointed beard looked like the sheri√ of
Nottingham’s, were accepted members of establishment Venice, forgetful
of their colorful past. The bohemian group in Venice then revolved
around Geo√rey Humphries, whose studio on the Giudecca was famous
for tuna-fish-and-rice parties. There was always tension between that
unconventional coterie and recognized members of the establishment
whose leaders, Sir Ashley and Lady Clark, were the most revered couple,
with the gravitas and charm one expects of a former ambassador to Rome
and his wife. The Clarks lived then on the piano nobile of the Palazzo
Bonlini, former home of Blanche Somers-Cocks, where Lady Clarke had
created one of the finest ‘‘English’’ gardens in Venice.
Two new friends entered Olga’s life at this time: Philip and Jane Rylands.
Philip had met his Ohio-born wife in Cambridge while he was
reading history of art, enjoying the cachet of being the nephew of George
(Dadey) Rylands of King’s College. The couple had driven to Venice in
1972 in a Volkswagen camper to find permanent digs in the prestigious
Palazzo Ca’Torta. Philip soon became involved with Sir Ashley’s restoration
and fund raising for Venice in Peril, while Joan contributed a ‘‘Letter
from Venice’’ to the Rome-based Daily American.
In the summer of 1973, a Family Agreement concerning Pound’s estate
was signed by all parties, creating a trust into which royalties and other
earnings of the estate would be deposited. There would be three trustees,
Mary, Omar, and Dorothy’s attorney (who was also administrator of the
estate). Since Mary and Omar lived abroad, they would be represented in